


With Every Beat of Your Heart

by SunshineHead



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crime Fighting, Enemies to Lovers, Gavin Reed Redemption, Gavin hates androids, Heavy Angst, I call RK900 Conan, I recently updated entire fic, M/M, Porn with Feelings, So Fluffy That You Might Suffocate a Bit, androids are being murdered, conan and connor are brothers, lowkey pining, reed900
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-09 12:30:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15267540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineHead/pseuds/SunshineHead
Summary: Detective Reed is paired with a partner to handle a disturbing case of androids being murdered. His partner just so happens to be Connor's brother, Conan.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Con cada latido de tu corazón ('With Every Beat of Your Heart') - TRADUCCIÓN AUTORIZADA](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631617) by [Samantha_Myarrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samantha_Myarrow/pseuds/Samantha_Myarrow)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like my other fic, I recently went back and fixed what I didn't like now that I have the time to. I didn't change nearly as much as I did with my other one, but enough to make this post in case anyone rereading was confused. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoy

For the tenth time in the last five minutes, Gavin Reed had to remind himself not to stare daggers at his boss and just sip his coffee instead, trying to maintain the illusion that he was calm. Fowler could certainly tell anyways, but Gavin didn’t snap and yell at his captain, that was just blatantly stupid - something only Lieutenant Anderson tended to do. “Why does it have to be my partner?” He spits the words out with disgust as if he had gotten sand in his mouth. 

The android, its name was Nines apparently, was almost the spitting image of Connor, the resident asshole android of the police department. Except Nines was  _ wrong _ . If he thought Connor was robotic and unemotional, then he didn’t know what the  _ fuck _ Nines was. Nines sat straight up in its seat, and when its eyes met Gavin’s, the piercing blue ice almost made Gavin shiver. It wasn’t that his eyes were emotionless like Connor’s once had been, it was that they looked defiant. It looked like it was ready to start a fight with Gavin, and it would win. Of  _ course, _ it would’ve won. Connor had kicked his ass in the evidence room three months ago and this android was supposed to the better, stronger, more resilient version of Connor. And somehow the silicone shithead was going to be his partner. 

“Since Chris moved a few months ago, you are left without a partner. I’ve let it slide for these past few months because you do great on your own, but with Marcus still protesting and with all the hate crimes we’ve been getting it’s safer for everyone if we don’t have any solo officers out there. Nines was made for police work even more so than Connor was, and he wants to be here. He’s your partner now.” Fowler cut Gavin off before he could protest any more. “I don’t want any fucking complaining, okay? Get out of my office.”

Gavin struggled in his seat for a moment, restless and wanting to argue, but he wasn’t a dumbass. He didn’t want to get fired, not when he had come so far. He got up with a scowl on his face and left the office, not even bothering to see if Nines was following. If it was anything like Connor, he knew it would be. 

He walked to his desk, which was littered with empty paper coffee cups. He needed coffee just to function, and while drinking several cups wasn’t good for him, he preferred being awake to do his job than stop. He sat down at his desk and changed his mindset onto his work, soon realizing that he had no actual case to work on yet. He grabbed a manila folder that had been sitting on his desk for a couple of days and filled out the report for a case he closed. He didn’t look up when he saw someone sit down at the empty desk across from his from the corner of his eye. He knew it was Nines. Who else would it be?

He finally looked up to see Nines staring at him. It was quite unnerving how the android managed to convey the feeling of death into its eyes, but Gavin didn’t let it get to him, he stared right back. He noticed for the first time what it was wearing. It’s Cyberlife issued jacket was mostly white, black lining the edges and the back. It wore black jeans and a black shirt that was almost like a turtleneck to make its head seem larger and more dominant. But androids were free, so why was it still wearing it’s Cyberlife clothes? Why was its LED still flashing a light blue on its temple? Connor had begun wearing simple button-down shirts and colorful ties to work, and had ditched that jacket and LED long ago. 

Gavin smirked, “Get me another cup of coffee, tin can.” He figured if this android was going to be his partner, he might as well make him do something useful. He didn’t expect the android to ignore him. “What? You’re still dressed as a servant, might as well act like one.” Nines stared blankly into Gavin’s eyes. 

“How annoying,” The android sighed. 

Gavin blinked. “Excuse me?” 

“I am not your servant, Detective Reed. Do not treat me as such.”

Gavin huffed, “Whatever, dipshit.” But it didn’t seem like the android was listening anymore. His eyes were closed and his LED was blinking yellow rapidly. 

“We have a case,” Nines said once it had opened its eyes. 

“What happened?” Gavin said, interested in something, finally. He actually loved his job, even if the long hours paired with his insomnia made him consistently irritable, he still loved it. How could he not? He stopped crazy serial killers and he protected people. That’s all that really mattered to him. 

“A body was found on the banks of the Detroit River. Other officers are at the scene right now.”

Gavin got up wordlessly and headed for the front doors of the station, Nines fell into place beside him, matching him step for step. “Fuck off.” He grunted, speeding his steps. 

Nines, annoyingly, had no issue in matching his pace. “I am your partner now, Detective Reed. When  _ you _ have a case,  _ I _ have a case.”

Gavin stopped walking and turned to face the android, and was immediately annoyed at how he had to tilt his head up to look it in the eyes. “You don’t bother me, you don’t nag me. You don’t mess with the evidence. You’re fucking  _ silent _ . Do  _ anything _ to piss me off and I don’t care what Fowler says; I’m done with you and you can be shipped off to some other fucking state.” Of course, it was all empty words, Gavin couldn’t make Fowler do anything. But he steeled himself, not letting it show in his eyes.

It seemed that the android knew Gavin was just all talk as it smirked, fucking  _ smirked _ at Gavin and walked past him. “Good luck with that.” It said over his shoulder. He watched as the android opened the passenger’s side door of Gavin’s unlocked car and got inside. Gavin took a deep breath, trying to calm his anger.

When they got to the crime scene Gavin’s stomach churned at the sight. It was android alright, he could see it’s LED still on its temple, though the color was gone now. The male android’s right leg had been sawed off at the thigh. Its left arm was twisted at an odd angle. Its hair had been shaved off crudely and one of its eyes were pried out. It looked like it had been tortured before being dumped into the water. As much he hated androids, torture was still torture. 

He looked away from the body and looked at the sparse pieces of evidence instead that forensic was already taking pictures of. “Why am I assigned to this case? Anderson and Conner usually take all the android cases.” He said to no one in particular.

“They’re busy already. Someone else needs to take android cases too,” said Officer Tina Chen who pretty much his only friend at the DPD.

Gavin groaned, and as fucked up as it was to be interested in a case like this, he still was. “Any fingerprints?”

“Nope.”

“So it could’ve been done by another android.”

“Possibly,” Nines spoke up, the android had appeared beside him and Gavin hadn’t even noticed. Before Gavin could tell it to shut up it was already talking. “But there are trace amounts of l atex, nitrile rubber, polyvinyl chloride, and neoprene. Latex gloves, Kroger brand. An android would have no reason to wear gloves, as they have no fingerprints. It is more probable that it was a human.”

Gavin didn’t respond to Nines, more so taking in the information than being rude. “The killer probably dumped it off the Ambassador Bridge…” He muttered to himself.

“And he washed up ashore here.” Nines finished. “It might have been a hate crime. Most humans are still uncomfortable with androids being alive.”

Gavin noticed something out of the corner of his eyes, something tattooed at the base of the android’s neck. “Wait, look at this.” Gavin pointed out the symbol to Gavin. It wasn’t anything like he had seen before, It looked like an ‘A’ and a ‘W’ joined together. Initials maybe. “Whoever did this marked him,” Gavin said, pure contempt in his voice.

“Somer serial killers like to leave their mark so people know who it was,” Nines said.

“Any serial killer in the database that has a signature like that?”

“Negative.”

Gavin frowned, with the sparse   of only a patch of thirium, he was running out of ideas. “Can you tell how long ago the tattoo was made?”

“Of course I can. Approximately two days and sixteen hours ago.” That gave them some sort of time frame, but it could’ve been dumped in the river anytime after that, and didn’t tell them how long the android was with the killer. “It’s actually not a tattoo, there are no traces of ink. It’s a burn mark.”

“Can you scan it for its model number, registration records? Whoever did this might have been its owner.” Unfortunately, the android’s clothes had ripped off of him. It was shirtless, with barely a scrap of cotton material for pants. 

Nines' LED was already blinking yellow as it scanned the android. “It’s an AP700. Registered under the name Andrew. Belonged to a Mr. Troy Needham, age twenty-seven. I have his address.”

“Then let’s go visit him, shall we?”

  
  


“Well, aren’t you handsome?” Mr. Needham, or who he thought was him, leaned against the door frame as he regarded Gavin with leering green eyes. His dark brown hair was wet, and his shirtless body was still slick with water. He had probably just gotten out of the shower. 

“Mr. Needham. Detective Gavin Reed for the Detroit Police Department. I need to ask you some questions.” Nines coughed from behind him. Gavin rolled his eyes and muttered. “And this is Nines.”

Mr. Needham nodded once he saw Nines, waving a little and opening the door wider. “Come in, sorry for hitting on you, and please, call me Troy.” He said sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it.” Troy led them into his small apartment. It was messy, the dishes hadn’t been done for a long time, and there were clothes and clutter all over the place. 

Troy chuckled nervously and swept up the clothes from the couch with his hands and threw them into a room. “You can sit there. Sorry, my place is a mess. My friend has gone missing and he usually does all this. He’s an android and goes off sometimes to protest with Marcus but never for this long.”

Gavin sat on the couch while Nines stood beside him, as stoic as ever. “That’s actually what we’re here about.”

“You found Andrew?” Troy said, joy in his eyes. He looked a little bit like a soaking wet puppy, and Gavin hated to take the light from his eyes. “Andrew was a part of the revolution a few months back. Even before the revolution happened he was still a friend to me. Yeah, he cleaned my house and shit but he was still there for me, I mean look at me, I’m a fucking mess.” Troy laughed a little, gesturing to his apartment. “He just went missing last week. He told me he was going to see Markus and didn’t come back..” Gavin struggled to find words as Troy rambled on about Andrew, he didn’t know how to tell him what happened. This was the one thing he hated about his job, he had to do this. 

“Andrew is dead,” Nines said, an unusual softness to his voice. “Someone killed him. But don’t worry, we’re going to find out who killed him. I promise.” Gavin stared shocked at the android, Nines had turned his ice blue eyes into those of a warm ocean, his lips were turned into a soft comforting smile, and Gavin didn’t know how he did it. He had never seen an android act so…  _ human _ . It was almost unnerving to go from seeing Nines go from cold and calculating to gentle and sympathetic that wasn’t real. At least Gavin knew it was just some fucked up program. 

Troy sat back in his seat. “Oh…” He said, the joy gone from his eyes. 

“I’m sorry about your friend,” Gavin said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Can you tell me when exactly he went missing?”

“Wednesday.” So it had been eight days then. They asked a few more questions, Nines being surprisingly gentle and comforting. That still didn’t stop Troy’s eyes filling with tears when Gavin and Nines told him about Andrew’s body when Troy asked them about it.  

“I want to give him a funeral. I don’t want him thrown in a junkyard.” 

“Of course,” Gavin said. “I’ll make sure someone calls you.” 

“Thank you for telling me. I hope you find that bastard that did this.” Troy said, his glistening green eyes turning quickly into an expression of rage. 

“We’re going to try,” Nines said. Gavin got up from the couch, shook hands with Troy and left to his car. They left the place with barely any leads. Troy said Andrew didn’t have any enemies, and things had been peaceful for months now. That only led to a hate crime, and with Andrew being dumped into a river, there was no trail leading to anyone. 

Gavin got in the car but didn’t start it, he leaned his head against the steering wheel and closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to solve this, but he desperately wanted to for Troy, who had lost his friend. 

Gavin knew androids were starting to have all kinds of relationship with humans. Connor and Hank were best friends in and out of the office. They always seemed to be together, and Hank was the last person you’d expect to become friends with an android. Well, the last person besides Gavin. Everyone knew that Gavin detested androids, and he had his reasons. He couldn’t stop the anger filling his veins whenever he saw one of the hunks of metal, but that didn’t mean he would ever kill one of the machines. That didn’t mean he would go as far as to torture them, cause them so much emotional stress that they self-destructed or shut down, as Andrew had. He just couldn’t see them as people. He couldn’t see them as anything more than chunks of silicone full of lines of code that would one day make the human race insignificant. 

“Detective Reed? Are you quite all right?” Right. Nines was here. 

Gavin sat up straight, not bothering to turn and look at the android. “I’m fine. I just need some fucking coffee.” 

“You know, drinking so much coffee isn’t good for your health.”

“I really don’t care,” Gavin said simply, starting the car and pulling out of the parking space smoothly.

 

Gavin walked into the office, Nines trailing just behind him. He took a sip of his coffee and smirked as he past Connor and Hank’s desk. “What the fuck are you doing, tin can?”

Connor was setting up a medium sized plastic tank, beginning to fill it up with water. “Connor wanted to have a little aquarium at his desk for his fish.” Hank gruffed from his desk that was adjacent to Connor’s. He was surprised to see the Lieutenant before noon, but since the revolution was over, Connor had gradually convinced Hank to come in earlier and earlier. 

“The fuck does this place look like? The Detroit Aquatic Center?” Gavin smirked.

“It’s a fish, Detective Reed,” Connor deadpanned. “Not a dolphin.” Connor smiled as he noticed Nines standing next to Gavin. “Nines, glad to see you got your first case.”

“Yes. Murders are always a delight.” Nines deadpanned, and Gavin almost laughed.  _ Almost _ . He instead hid his smile by taking another drink of his coffee. 

“You two know each other?” Gavin asked after taking another sip of his coffee.

“Nines is my brother,” Connor smiled. “I’m glad that he’s finally at the office instead of crashing at my apartment and laying around all day.”

“I wasn’t aware I was being a hindrance,” Nines said almost too seriously, Gavin didn’t have to look at the android to know that it hadn’t caught onto to Connor’s poor attempt at a joke. In the past few months, Connor had changed. It had stopped wearing the standard Cyberlife issued clothes and showed up to work in different button-down shirts rolled up to the sleeves. Some days Connor wore colorful ties. Like today, it was wearing a light blue tie with white geometric fish on it. The thing sure loved animals. Gavin was a cat person himself but hadn’t had one since he was a child. He didn’t want to get one, not when he knew he’d never be home. Being a detective took up most of his time. 

“You aren’t, Nines, I’m just kidding. You’re welcome to stay at my apartment for as long as you like, you know that.” Connor smiled, and Gavin felt the android beside him ease up a little at that smile.

Nines nodded. Gavin walked away, not wanting to get sucked into fake small talk when he had a case to think about. A case with no leads, but still, it was a case. Nines sat at his desk a moment later and Gavin tried to look busy by looking through his terminal. He reviewed the case, the pictures of that android, Andrew, but he didn’t really have any leads besides a suspicion that the android could’ve been kidnapped at a protest. He should see if Connor could contact Marcus and avoid talking to the revolution leader. When he couldn’t think of anything else to do, he stared at the body and sparce evidence until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He understood what some humans thought. He understood why they were afraid of the androids taking over all of our jobs, as they already had been. But he couldn’t understand torturing an android. No matter how much Gavin hated androids, he could never be that cruel, and he could never have any respect for anyone that did. 

“I could try to connect to his memory. We have him in the evidence room, right?”

“Yeah,” Gavin said cautiously. What the fuck was it talking about? “What do you mean, connect to its memory? You can do that?” Gavin couldn’t help but be interested. 

“If I connect to him I might be able to see what he saw. I might be able to see who’s responsible for the murder.” Nines' blue eyes were cold, calculating. It still unnerved him, but he stood from his chair.

“Then let’s get going.” Gavin said, not really asking. He was already heading to the evidence room, Nines following close behind.


	2. Chapter 2

“Christ,” Gavin said once he had entered his password and the wall of the evidence room moved, revealing all the evidence they had, which was very little. Seeing the android, broken and beyond repair was, of course, unnerving, but seeing it here, hung up on the wall like some fucked up trophy; it sent a chill into Gavin’s bones. 

“It isn’t a pretty sight,” Nines confirmed. Nines stepped forward, and Gavin watched as the android revealed the synthetic material of Andrew’s stomach. He fought the urge to gag as Nines opened its stomach, messing around with a few things in there. Gavin didn’t really want to ask what Nines was doing. The panel closed and pale skin appeared over the white silicone. Nines looked at Gavin, “He’s going to reboot in a few seconds. He won’t last for long.”

Soon enough the machine jolted but didn’t move any more than that. Nines lifted his hand to Andrew’s, the white material under his skin now visible as Nines connected to Andrew’s memory.

Nines wasn’t quite sure what he was seeing. The memories flashed red and jolted, obviously corrupted. All he could see was a bright white light and the silhouette of a man as he pried out his eye. Nines dropped Andrew’s hand, severing the connection. There were no other memories there. Even if there was, he didn’t want to look at it. Nines  _ felt _ it. He felt the pain and stress and hurt as the man ripped Andrew’s eye out, it felt like it was Nines' eye. His LED sputtered red as he breathed heavily. 

Gavin spoke from behind him. “Was there anything?” Gavin watched as the android didn’t respond for a moment, staring at the floor, then into the dead and broken eyes of the AP700. 

“The memory was corrupted and I couldn’t see who it was. But I think it was a man.” The android’s LED was now a steady yellow, Gavin never saw it turn red. 

“Well,” Gavin sighed. “At least that’s something.” Gavin turned and left the evidence room, always assuming that Nines was following him. This time though, the android waited a few more moments looking at Andrew. His hand drifted up his face, he ran a diagnostics check. Everything was fine, and yet…

He turned away from the broken android and left, quickly catching up to Gavin without the human even noticing he hadn’t been there all along.

  
  


After spending the rest of the day pouring over evidence and getting nowhere, it was time to go home. Sitting in the office all night wouldn’t help anyone. He looked everywhere for the symbol he had seen on the AP700’s body, but it seemed to be unique only to the killer. Unless of course, the killer was really energetic about promoting a fast food restaurant that had gone out business years ago. He left promptly at five p.m.. Normally, when he got off at this time he would go out to eat and spend the night in a bar until he found some beautiful person and spend the night at their place. Always their place, never his. Tonight was different. He didn’t even stop to get something to eat, just straight home where he made a pot of coffee and sat in front of the television. The coffee didn’t help him much. It didn’t stop the feeling of being useless. He had never really had a case where he had absolutely no leads. No hint of anything. 

When he became a police officer, it was like he had finally found something he was good at. He worked hard and fought for what he wanted, even it meant being an asshole to all his peers. He didn’t really care. He just wanted to be something, even if he had to step on somebody’s toes. This meant that no one liked him at the office, and what did he care? He would be their boss someday. He knew he would. 

He had to.

He flicked through the channels, grunted after not finding anything and turning the TV off. Then it was silent, so he flicked on the stereo to play some music and he pulled over the book he had been reading for the past week and opened it. Gavin liked to think that he was actually well-read. When he was teen, he read every book he could get his hands on, from classics to sci-fi. A part of that carried into his adult years and he read whenever he had the time. He’d once wanted to be a writer, but he sat down once when he was sixteen and just couldn’t find the words. He didn’t have anything interesting to write about. His unloving parents? That’s already been done and he didn’t want to whine about his life. Being in the shadow of his older brother? Again, the whining. He couldn’t think of jack shit. So he never tried again. He had books, other’s people’s stories, and that was enough. 

But now he was having trouble concentrating. He couldn’t quite focus on the words so he got frustrated and set the book aside. His mind drifted to the stoic android with blue eyes and an unforgiving smirk. He sometimes hated how mean he could be to people, especially androids. But that didn’t matter after he had already spit out hateful words. 

Instincts were good when you were a police officer. In the moment, there’s no time to think about fear or worry or loved ones. Gavin had always had great instincts. Instincts that made him a shitty person. 

The next day passed with the android and the human barely speaking to each other. They were both glued to their terminals. It was almost… awkward. It was especially awkward when Nines set a fresh cup of coffee in front of him and Gavin didn’t know what to say. He wanted to say thank you but his mouth had decided on something else.

“Thought you weren’t my servant.”

Nines shrugged, “You look tired.”

“I am,” Gavin said, leaning back in his seat and taking a drink of the bitter liquid. He had spent most of the night tossing and turning, which was no different from usual. But last night was worse than other nights, every time he closed his eyes he saw that broken and battered android washed up on the shore of the Detroit River. 

“Why are you always so tired?” Nines asked. 

“I’ve got insomnia. Gets worse when I have a case I’m not even close to solving.” Gavin answered. It wasn’t a secret in the office. Tina Chen often told him to go home early or take a day off, he thanked her but never listened. What would going home do? It wouldn’t make him sleep, only make him more restless than he already was.

Nines' LED flickers and flashes yellow before turning back into blue, “Have you tried taking Melatonin pills to balance out your circadian rhythm?”

“I fucking hate pills.”

“Warm milk before bed is good, relaxing music to play while you sleep as well. Stop drinking coffee after two p.m. I’ve also heard that a weighted blanket-” Nines was listing off facts and remedies like it was a goddamn android nurse. Gavin had enough. 

“Christ, Nines, stop. You’re not my fucking mother. I’m fine the way I am.”

“I know you are, Detective Reed, I just think you being so tired could affect the case.”

Was this android fucking with him? “I have been dealing with insomnia since I was fifteen fucking years old. It doesn’t affect the goddamn investigation.” Gavin growled. 

“I’m sorry if I offended you.” Gavin thought he saw a tinge of hurt in Nines' eyes when Gavin snapped at it. But he was tired. He was seeing things. 

“It’s fine,” Gavin gritted his teeth. The only thing his lack of sleep did was make him irritable. He had learned to function with only an hour or two of sleep years ago. The only time he slept well… the last time he slept well was a long time ago. 

Nines opened his mouth to say more, to say sorry again, but he felt it would do more bad than good at this point. He watched as Gavin grumpily typed away at his terminal.

“I don’t really expect you to understand. I know both you and Connor don’t sleep.” Gavin said, willing his voice to be a little softer.

“Actually, I’m different from Connor. I have more functions than him, and I have more… upgrades. All of that requires me to rest my body. I don’t have to every night but if I haven’t rested in a few days I can overheat easily and I get sluggish and my software doesn’t work as quickly. Sort of like you humans.”

“Upgrades? What other upgrades?” Gavin asked, actually interested for once, he was interested in anything that could help solve this case. 

“I have a better analysis program. My reconstruct program works faster. I can feel pain and pleasure, I can be uncomfortable or comfortable. I have hot and cold sensors but I can turn those off. I can cry. I’ve also got a penis. All of it to make me fit better into human society.” Gavin choked on his coffee, the hot liquid burning his throat. Gavin coughed, face red from coughing as Nines only chuckled and smirked at him.

“I thought you all were just ken dolls under there?”

“Ah, so you were thinking about that, were you?” Nines' grin only grew larger as Gavin’s face got redder. 

Gavin took a deep breath, somehow already in a better mood than he had been a few moments ago. “No, I wasn’t thinking about fucking you if that’s what you’re suggesting.” Gavin calmly took a sip of water to soothe the burning in his throat. “Just assumed, I guess.”

“Well, I have one. Connor and most other androids had to go to Cyberlife and get an upgrade.”

Gavin’s face was still quite red as they settled into silence, the sight of it almost made Nines laugh. The shit-eating grin was bright and clear on its face though, and Gavin wanted to punch the tin can for making him flustered. He was only flustered because he had never expected Nines to say something like that, but the android kept surprising him. He would have to get used to it. Seeing that smile on Nines' faced unnerved Gavin, he didn’t think that androids could produce a smile like that and make it seem so natural. 

  
  


Gavin was tired. So fucking tired. No amount of coffee or paperwork could keep his eyes from falling closed. He jolted himself awake a few times, but his eyes always kept drifting closed. He had never fallen asleep at work before, he was too afraid to be in such a vulnerable position like this out in the open. But the music was playing so quietly and perfectly in his ears. And Nines was there. Nines would wake him up if he fell asleep. His eyes drifted closed and stayed closed. His head resting on his crossed arms on his desk and his face to the side, breathing evenly.

Nines looked over to see his partner like this, asleep apparently. It was strange because he hadn’t ever seen him without hardness in his eyes or a grimace. It was almost breathtaking to see him so calm and peaceful, not a hint of that fire or determination. It was near four o’clock, and most people had either left early, like Hank and Connor, or were out on an assignment. It was Friday after all, most people wanted to go home to their families. Nines supposed that Connor was his family now, but he felt so out of place at his brother’s apartment. It didn’t really feel like a home to him. He knew Connor was doing the best he could, but how could he feel at home when he was sleeping on a couch?

Nines wondered whether or not he should wake Gavin soon, but he knew that because of Gavin’s insomnia the human would most likely not be able to fall asleep until early morning. And while the detective would never admit it, Nines knew it could affect the case. He let his partner sleep. 

The next morning, when they got a call about a new body, neither of them mentioned how Nines had draped his Cyberlife jacket over the detective’s shoulders. Gavin didn’t think about how no had taken care of him like that since he was a toddler. They didn’t say anything as they met the next morning, Gavin didn’t even utter a single insult towards the android, just wordlessly handed over the jacket and watched as Nines slipped it back on. 

They didn’t say anything, they couldn’t. Not as they looked upon the horrors of a second victim. 

  
  


The WB200 female android, the name registered as Sam, was even more broken than Andrew had been. Its back, stomach, and legs were covered in lash marks. The skin on its wrists had been damaged so badly that the white silicone underneath showed, likely from being tied up. Like Andrew’s, its eyes were damaged. But both of them were too broken beyond repair, stabbed to bits inside the sockets. Its blond hair shaved crudely, even a gash on its head from a razor. It had been dumped inside an old burned down house, someone saw the android through the broken glass of a window and had called it in. 

“She was hung suspended in the air as he whipped her,” Nines said, the first words they had spoken to each other.

“Any fingerprints?” Gavin asked, though he already knew the answer.

“None that I can detect. There are traces of the same latex gloves that were on the first victim’s body. Though that doesn’t say much. They’re Kroger brand, after all, anyone could buy them.”

Gavin hummed, scanning the body again. There, on its neck the same symbol that was on the AP700. Gavin gestured to the mark. 

“So it is by the same man. It was marked… thirty-two hours ago.”

“And they only found the body a couple of hours ago. That could mean that killer brands them before dumping them off. Why did he choose this place this time? This house is miles away from Ambassador Bridge.”

“Most likely to keep us from tying a connection. My guess is that he is the type of man to drive all over if it meant to keep his identity from us a secret.”

“I think you’re right,” Gavin muttered. “What if you do that memory thing with it?” Gavin asked.

Nines froze, remembering the panic and the pain he had felt in Andrew. “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Nines said, keeping his voice calm and calculated. “It’s blind. It won’t do any good.” He took a deep breath, ushering the memory of being chained down and tortured away.

Gavin looked at it then, curiosity in his gray eyes. “Why don’t you want to do it?”

Nines swallowed, steeled himself into the machine that he was supposed to be. “There’s no reason to, she’s blind.”

“But what if the killer spoke to her? You could get a voice clip.” Gavin’s eyes scrutinized it. Nines did not let any emotion slip.

“There’s no reason to,” Nines said, simply. And something in the way it said it made Gavin not want to insist any further. 

“Who did it belong to?” Gavin asked, changing the subject and turning back to look at the body.

Nines almost sighed with relief. “Elle Martin, fifty-two years old. She had Sam as her personal gardener.”

“I don’t think an old woman could do this,” Gavin said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket, it was chilly today. “We should pay her a visit anyways, let her know what happened to Sam, ask some questions.”

“At least this old lady won’t hit on you,” Nines said as the got into the car.

“I mean, you never know,” Gavin said, winking at Nines. “I’m great with the ladies, too.” The playful look in the detective’s eyes shocked Nines so much that he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Gavin didn’t know why he said it either, it was almost too easy to banter with the android, and that made him uneasy. Nines was an android, it wasn’t his fucking friend. 

Gavin rapped on the front door of the beautiful house. He couldn’t help but admire the amount of landscaping this place had. Beautiful flowers everywhere, neatly trimmed bushes lined the front of the house, carefully tended to vines crawled up the exterior of the home. Whoever did this work must have been extremely patient and loving, definitely not a killer.

A woman with warm brown eyes and long gray hair opened the door. She was thin, but definitely not frail, and her kind smile made Gavin like her immediately. He hated that he would be the one to bring her the bad news. “Hello, I’m Detective Gavin Reed and this is Nines, we work for the Detroit Police Department, may we come in?” He said, shifting his jacket to flash her his badge that was clipped to his belt. 

“Oh, of course. Can I get you some coffee? I just made a pot for myself.”

“I’d love some, thank you.” Gavin walked in and the home was even more warm and loving than the woman was. The walls were painted a light blue that went well white material of the couch and armchairs. The furniture was either black or white, although there seemed to be little pops of color everywhere. The couch and the armchairs were each decorated with what looked to be homemade throw pillows. The house was clean and warm and smelled faintly of vanilla and chocolate chip cookies. 

“Mrs. Martin-” He said as soon as she had given him a dark brown mug filled with hot coffee. 

“Oh, please,” She said, settling down in the armchair adjacent to the couch with her own mug in her hands. “Call me Elle. Mrs. Martin was my dreadful mother-in-law.”

Gavin smiled at that and began again. “Elle, you have an android, correct?”

“Yes,” Elle smiled fondly, and Gavin’s heart panged in his chest. Sometimes he really fucking hated his job. “Sam. She’s lovely. She helps me with the gardening and such. My daughter and her husband gave her to me as a gift for Christmas a few years ago. My husband had just passed and he usually helped me with the work, I think they noticed how tiring it was for me, so they introduced me to Sam. She went missing a few days ago, Tuesday, and that’s very unlike her. She went to go pick up some new gardening tools for me and never came back. Is that why you’re here, have you found her? Is she alright?”

Gavin turned and shared a look with Nines. He didn’t expect to see anything in those cold blue eyes, but he found warmth in them, something like the look it had given Tony. That alone gave Gavin the courage to turn to Elle and tell her the news. “Sam was murdered. We’re trying to figure out who, but I know that doesn’t really mean anything. I’m so sorry.”

Elle nodded, “I think I suspected something like that had happened when she never came home. Sam was too kind for her own good, too trusting. That isn’t a bad thing, I love that about her, but…” Her words trailed off. She didn’t need to finish, Gavin knew what she meant. “What happened to her?”

“I really don’t think you want to know.”

“I do,” Elle said sternly, passionately. Her dark brown fingers tightened on the white mug she held in her hands, showing her determination.

Gavin didn’t want to say it, he didn’t know how to tell her. He could’ve said it to anyone else but Elle, with fire and warmth in her eyes, he didn’t know how to say it. He didn’t know what words would make it less painful. He didn’t know if any words could.

“She was mutilated, tortured until she shut down,” Nines said the words softly, kindly, though that didn’t do much to soften the sting to his words. Gavin had to look away as he saw the tears blossom in Elle’s eyes.

“Ask me whatever you need to,” Elle nodded at Gavin, “I will do whatever it takes to help catch the person that did this to her.”

Gavin nodded, asking more or less the same questions he had asked Tony. He knew before he asked them that it wouldn’t end with him getting a lead. If Sam was as kind as Elle said she was, then he knew no one she knew would’ve done this to her. Gavin must have apologized a thousand times, then he and Nines stood to leave no longer than an hour later.

As she walked them to the door, Elle asked one last thing. “I would like her body burned if that’s allowed. I don’t want her body to forever be scarred by whatever that monster did to her. Sam doesn’t deserve that.”

Gavin nodded solemnly and left, feeling Nines walking behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I'll be posting again on Tuesday!


	3. Chapter 3

Gavin drove gripping the steering wheel tightly as the suburban houses finally drifted into the cold apartment buildings of Detroit. 

“I think you handled it quite well,” Nines said from the passenger’s seat, breaking the silence. Gavin snapped, gritting his teeth and pulled over.  He jumped out of his seat and headed to some alley, it was all he could see. He punched the brick wall in front of him, again and again. He couldn’t describe what he was feeling. It was just anger. Just anger as the skin of his knuckles cracked and red blood flooded over his hands. Soon warm hands covered his own, stopping his violent thrusts at the wall. “Detective-” Nines said, but Gavin cut it off.

“That nice old lady; first she lost her husband and then her friend. She lost her friend to some crazy fucking murderer who thinks that all androids need to die, who thinks in his fucked up mind that androids needed to be punished. Punished for what? Doing our work and being our slaves for years? For just existing? I hate androids, I still do. I  _ have _ to.” Gavin was speaking softly now, the anger gone from his voice and eyes. His arms were limp as Nines held his hands. “But that doesn’t make any of this right.”

“It’s going to be alright, Detective Reed,” Nines said, and the words made Gavin’s blood start to boil, that anger already coursing through him again. He didn’t need to be coddled like a child, especially when he sure as hell didn’t deserve it.

“Are you fucking kidding me? It’s not going to be alright. Don’t fucking talk to me like you know me.” Gavin shoved his partner away from him. He couldn’t stand the sight of it anymore. This wasn’t the first time he had struggled so much in an investigation, but he was so conflicted because he was trying to save androids.  _ Androids _ . The things he had hated since the beginning. Gavin shoved Nines again, but Nines grabbed his hands, stopping them before he made contact. 

“Detective Reed, you should calm down, your stress levels are rising, and your heart is beating too fast.”

“Oh, fuck off!” It wasn’t androids he was mad at, Gavin realized, it was Nines. And Gavin wasn’t quite sure why. He wasn’t sure how this stupid fucking android managed to make his blood boil more than the others. He broke his hands out of Nines' grip and shoved it again, this time making the android lose its balance a little as it stumbled backward. “I didn’t want to fucking do this investigation! I didn’t want to fucking have you, a tin can full of bullshit, as my partner! I didn’t want any of this.”

“Do not call me that,” Nines said, his eyes a deathly blue.

“The fuck did you just say?” Gavin heard himself say, he didn’t really know why he was talking anymore, there was anger in his voice, but the anger had long since faded from his body. That had faded the moment Nines' hands grabbed his. But he kept speaking, he kept pushing it away. He pushed Nines away, as he did to everything.

“Did I stutter?” Nines said bitterly, “I said, do not  _ fucking _ call me that.” Nines was scary as shit when it was mad, but Gavin was far too gone to care. 

“You think I’m gonna follow  _ your _ orders? I’ll call you whatever the fuck I want to call you, you piece of shit! You don’t feel  _ anything _ .” Gavin begged himself to stop, to just stop talking before things got worse. But as always, he didn’t listen to that nagging voice inside his head. “You especially, Nines, you don’t feel anything. I don’t know what the fuck kind of program Elijah Kamski has installed in you, but it’s fucking bullshit. You don’t have feelings.” He didn’t mean it, of course. He had always tried to ignore that kind look that sometimes appeared in Nines' eyes, but Gavin knew it was there. Maybe if he kept talking, kept being a dick, maybe it would all stop. “Don’t act as if you actually do. It’s a goddamn insult-”

The utter pain was all he could feel as his words fell short as Nines' fist collided with his face. 

“ _ Fuck _ you,” Nines said, seething. And Gavin didn’t care about the pain that thundered in his temple and the bridge of his nose. He tackled Nines to the ground, his fists flying as he went. He felt a sick satisfaction at seeing a stream of blue blood trickle from the android’s nose. But it wasn’t long before Gavin was pinned to the ground, the android on top of him and straddling his waist. Nines had pinned his arms to either side of his head and no matter how much Gavin struggled he couldn’t move them at all. 

“Detective Reed, calm down,” There was softness in Nines' voice. A softness that almost made Gavin think that the android understood why he was lashing out. A softness that had to be fucking fake, some program. And that thought made him want to fight, made him want to scream and punch his way through the fake hunk of metal. But he didn’t, he knew he would lose. And he knew that he wouldn’t have the heart to tear Nines apart piece by piece. He wasn’t like that monster they were trying to hunt. 

He hoped he wasn’t. 

He let his arms go slack and Nines got off of him, holding out his hand to help the detective up. Gavin took it reluctantly, he wasn’t sure why Nines was still being kind to him when they had just got in a fight. They got back in his car and just as Gavin was about to start the car, Nines spoke softly beside him. “Why do you hate me so much?” And Nines for once sounded so weak and so unlike the cocky android he had gotten used to, that Gavin started to hate himself that much more. There were other ways to break someone besides tearing them apart piece by piece. Gavin didn’t dare look it in its eyes as he spoke. He owed Nines the truth, even if he hadn’t spoken of it in years. 

“Noah was my friend, at first,” Gavin started, it hurt to even say his name, but he kept speaking. If not for Nines, then for Noah. “We met in eighth grade and I was starting to realize that maybe I liked boys too. I think a part of me had always liked him but I mistook it as just wanting a friendship.” Gavin laughed dryly. “When we were sixteen, I beat up some kid who called Noah a fag. I mean, it was 2018, get a new fucking insult, you know? But the guy called on some of his friends and they all jumped me after school that day. They’re the ones that gave me this scar on my nose, they shoved me and I fell face first into a pile of broken glass. It was Noah who found me, took me home, and patched me up.

“He said no one had ever done that for him before, and I told him that I would walk through hellfire to protect him. Pretty cheesy, I know, but he seemed to like it because he kissed me. At first, I told him I didn’t think of him like that, but I was really just afraid of what I felt. I was never too good at emotions, as you can probably tell. But he said he understood and we left it at that. A few weeks later though I still couldn’t get over that goddamn kiss, and at how much I liked it, at how much I liked him. I kissed him again, and this time at least my nose wasn’t fucking bleeding all over him. We were together for over a year. We had so many sleepovers because my parents didn’t know yet. My parents didn’t even know I was interested in more than girls, they were too wrapped up in my brother’s brilliance to ever give a shit about me. But I didn’t care. I had Noah, and _ he _ cared about me. It felt right with him, but we couldn’t tell anyone about us though cause we knew his dad would beat the shit out of him, maybe even kill him. I didn't mind not telling anyone though, I loved Noah. I wanted to protect him.

“One day my brother came into my room while I was making out with Noah. He ran out before I could talk to him, but I thought it would be fine. He told my parents, who told their friends, who told Noah’s parents. Noah snuck into my room later around three in the morning. His face, his body, all bruised up. I wanted to kill his dad, and I think I would have too, but Noah told me he was leaving. He and his mom were gonna get out of there before something worse happened to him. I couldn’t stop crying, neither could he. I didn’t want him to go. I had told him I would go through hellfire to protect him and it felt like I was then, but no matter what I did I couldn’t protect him. That night was the last time I ever saw him.” Gavin’s voice broke as he remembered the night his world seemed to shatter around him.

“We kept in touch after he left, we promised each other we would wait for each other. We never did. Soon our everyday calls turned into weekly texts, then monthly texts, then into nothing at all. We both had moved on. Once I got out of the academy and came to the DPD I just wanted to tell him. I wanted him to be proud of me. I called and called him until one day his mother called me back. She told me that he died in a car crash when he was twenty-two, a drunk driver had hit him head-on. I couldn’t protect him, not when it mattered most. And I didn’t hold onto him, I didn’t keep in touch like I was supposed to. Maybe if I had… I don’t know, he might still be here today.

“I never forgave my brother. I never really liked him all that much before everything happened. He spent all his time in the garage building his machines, too busy to play with his little brother. But Elijah betrayed my trust and I lost whatever love I might have felt for him. If it wasn’t for him, Noah might not have had to leave. And I hated Elijah for that. I hated that because he was such a fucking genius our parents never gave a shit about me. Even after Noah left they never fucking once asked if I was alright, neither did Elijah for that matter. They were gone all the time because they would rather be at Elijah’s events, soaking up all the attention that was given to you when you had a genius son. I didn't tell them I was going to the police academy until I had already been there for a week. I did tell them I got a job at the DPD though, they didn’t care. All they cared about was Elijah and how proud they were of their son and his androids. I guess I hated him so much I hated what he created too. I watched as this stupid, perfect thing he created took over the country, and I hated him for it.

Gavin surprised himself with the words he spoke next, he felt them fall out of his mouth without even thinking, so Gavin knew he meant it. “I’m sorry, Nines. I’m sorry if I ever upset you by calling you a tin can or a plastic asshole or whatever. Nothing can excuse what I said. It was never about you or androids altogether.” Gavin hadn’t meant to tell Nines as much as he did, but the words were spilling out of his mouth before he even knew what he was saying. He hadn’t talked about Noah in so long, and it hurt but a part of the ache in his chest lifted, and strangely, Gavin didn’t mind the fact that Nines knew. 

“Your brother is Elijah Kamski?” Nines said slowly. 

Gavin nodded, “Half-brother, yeah.” They were silent for a moment. “Do you think you can forgive me? I didn’t mean what I said. I never really do.”

“I’m not quite sure what I’m feeling right now. I think it’s a lot of different things. But I think one of the things I feel is forgiveness.” Gavin finally looked over at his partner, who had tears falling down his cheeks. Gavin unconsciously wiped away a few with the pad of his thumb. He convinced himself that he just wanted to feel what the artificial liquid felt like. “To think I didn’t even know if I actually  _ could _ cry until now. I knew I had the function, but I didn’t think I’d ever do it. And I didn’t think it’d be so messy.” Nines wiped away a tear with the pad of his finger, looking at the drop of water with such clear disgust.

Gavin chuckled a little at that, sniffing. Even that motion hurt, fuck, he had almost forgotten about his nose. He was sure it was broken but he didn’t really care, he had a large tolerance for pain. “You know, you aren’t so bad, Nines, I’ve never had anyone tell me off the way you have. It’s almost admirable.” The detective smirked. 

“Does this mean you’re going to stop calling me a tin can?” Nines smirked, playfulness in his eyes, the tears were gone now. 

Gavin shrugged nonchalantly, a grin on his face as he leaned back in his seat. “It depends on what mood I’m in and how much you’ve pissed me off.”

“I always piss you off, “ Nines deadpanned, and the look on his face had Gavin laughing. 

“Fuck,” He hissed, the pain registering a little more this time. His temple ached with heavy pressure. “You broke my fucking nose.”

“You should’ve known better than to face off with the RK series again. Look how well that went with my brother.”

“He told you about that?”

“Of course he did. But come on, we must get you to a hospital.”

“Ah, yes, that'll look great. I’ll just tell them my android partner punched me in the fucking face. That won’t get us in trouble.” Gavin said sarcastically. “ Look, it’s not the first time it’s happened, you just have to set it.”

“I can tell it’s not the first time.”

Gavin gasped with mock hurt. “Are you saying I’m ugly?”

“No, you’re quite attractive, actually. Just I can easily tell it’s been broken two other times. I’m an android, remember? I tend to scan things and analyze them. Now, come here. I need to be facing you.”

Gavin could barely breathe as he faced Nines, and it wasn’t because of the fear of incoming pain. The android had called him attractive. And why the fuck was Gavin dwelling on it so much? In one quick moment, Nines grabbed his nose and snapped it back into place, the pain of it immediately making Gavin forget about whatever he was thinking about. 

Gavin yelped as Nines said, “See? Quick and painless.”

“That was not fucking painless you silicone piece of shit. Christ, fucking blood and mud everywhere.  _ Fuck _ , I want to go home.” Gavin hoped Nines realized that he didn't really mean whatever insult he had thrown at him as he snatched napkins from the android and pressed them to his nose, tilting his head back. 

Thankfully, Nines didn’t seem concerned as he just smiled at him. “Let’s go then, you can drop me off at Connor’s apartment.”

“Fuck that. We’re going to my place. Connor’s apartment is in the opposite direction. It’s late,” Gavin said gesturing to the dark sky, the stars winking at them. “I don’t want to drive any more than I have to.”

“Detective Reed-”

“I think after all the shit I just told you, you can call me Gavin. Detective Reed is too fucking formal.”

“Okay. Gavin, I’m covered in blood, both mine and yours. My clothes are at home.”

“Your clothes? What? Your extra Cyberlife bullshit? No. I’ll give you some of my clothes. I’m sick of seeing you wear that shit anyways.” Gavin didn’t really want to say it was because it gave him unnecessary feelings of his brother.

Nines nodded as if he understood without Gavin having to say it. “Alright, Detect-… Gavin,”

“If you want you can have your brother come and get you.” Gavin offered as he started the car.

“We walk to work. His apartment is close to the station.” Nines said. 

Gavin shrugged, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. “My couch is yours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the kudos and comments, you guys don't know how much it means to me.
> 
> I'll be posting again Thursday so stay tuned!


	4. Chapter 4

Nines wasn’t quite sure where he should sit. It had been nine minutes since he’d been inside the detective’s home. The detective had thrust clothes at him, a deep blue v-neck, a Detroit Police sweatshirt, and grey plaid pajama pants. The shirt was a little tight on Nines, but the sweatshirt and pants fit perfectly. His Cyberlife jacket and bloody shirt had been thrown in the trash by Gavin who had changed into a similar outfit to Nines', opting for deep blue pajama pants and a white t-shirt. Gavin sat in the kitchen, an icepack pressed to his already swollen nose. It was a really stupid thing to punch the detective, but he couldn’t go back now. What’s done is done, Nines just hoped they wouldn’t deactivate him for it. 

Gavin’s apartment was small, a dark brown couch and a TV in one corner, a bedroom to the right, a bathroom on the left, and around the corner there was a kitchen. It was dim in the detective’s apartment, only a couple of lamps lit. It was surprisingly clean in the apartment, only a couple of dirty coffee mugs on the small coffee table he had next to the couch. Gavin had a large bookcase piled high with books, actual paper books. Other books were stacked on the coffee table, on the kitchen counter, on the arm of the couch. Nines hadn’t pegged Gavin for an avid reader, but it seemed that he’d been wrong about a lot of things. 

Gavin watched the android just stand there, looking so out of place in Gavin’s clothes. “Sit anywhere you like, watch TV, read a book, whatever. But if you lose my place in any of my books I’ll kill you.” Gavin was smirking. He wouldn’t actually kill the android or even hurt him, it was just really fucking annoying to lose your place in a book.

“I didn’t know you read classics,” Nines said, picking up Gavin’s copy of East of Eden. 

Gavin smiled, “That’s a favorite of mine. It’s so fucking complicated but once you get used to it you see how heartbreaking the book actually is.” He set his ice pack on the table, opting to light a cigarette instead. 

“I see. I just downloaded and read the basic understanding of the book.”

“Whoa, what the fuck, no!” Gavin sputtered. “You can’t just  _ download the plot _ .” Gavin mocked Nines' robotic speech. “You have to actually fucking read it. Don’t diss John Steinbeck like that.” Nines stared blankly at him. “Take it, read the book. Actually read it. Pay attention to it. You’ll see how much better it is than fucking spark-noting it online.”

“Sparknote?” Nines asked, his head cocked to the side in the same way Connor did. The look on Connor made him seem like a puppy, but it made Nines look like a wolf ready to pounce.

“It’s this website that explained books chapter by chapter so kids wouldn’t have to pay attention in school. Most of my friends in high school used it.”

“Ah,” Nines looks inquisitively at the book, sitting down on the couch and flipping it open. It was the first time Gavin had lent a book to anyone, he was always nervous that they would dog-ear the pages or spill something on it. But Gavin felt it wouldn’t be a problem with the perfect android. 

Though Nines tried to focus on the book, his mind kept wandering to the detective and the story he had told him in the dark car, both of them covered in blood. Elijah Kamski, Nines' creator, was Gavin Reed’s half-brother. But, if Kamski was Elijah’s last name, then why was Gavin’s last name Reed? 

He found himself looking through his databases for this Noah that Gavin had spoken so fondly of. He couldn’t say why he wanted to look at him, he just knew he wanted to see him. He found him soon enough. 

Noah was breathtaking. He had blond hair styled with a bunch of messy curls on the top of his head and the rest of his hair shaved in an undercut. Bright blue eyes as clear as the ocean, a dash of freckles across his nose, and a beauty mark above his lips. He was smiling, laughing at the person holding the camera. Nines scrolled through the information.

_ Born: December 23, 2002 _

_ Died: August 15, 2022 _

Nines scrolled down further and eventually found the obituary. 

_ Noah died in the presence of his friends and family on Monday, August 15th, 2022. Noah was often happy and had a smile on his face and always brought a smile to others. He graduated from Roosevelt High School as Valedictorian and graduated from The University of Washington with highest honors. May he always bring the light into the darkness.  _

The obituary seemed to have been written by his mother, Alice. Nines flipped through photos of him and his heart stopped as he came across a picture of a sixteen-year-old Gavin. He had his arm around Noah. Gavin’s blue eyes were bright and a wide smile was on his face, The scar on his nose just a cut that was beginning to heal. Nines blinked away the image to look at the man before him, twenty years after that photo had been taken. The man took a sip of his coffee and stared out the window, not a hint of that smile. 

The most shocking thing to Nines was Noah’s last name. Noah  _ Reed _ . Before he could stop himself he searched through public records until he found a certificate for a name change. Gavin had changed his last name from Kamski to Reed on December 23, 2024. Nines erased the images from his mind. He spared another glance at Gavin, barefooted and a little dried blood still left on his upper lip. This man was certainly different from the one in the photo. Nines flipped open the book again, this time reading intently. He realized he quite liked the Gavin in front of him anyways, even if he was a little broken. 

After spending a few hours in silence, both of them reading in separate rooms, Gavin sighed, closed his book and stood from his chair in the kitchen.

“I’m gonna head to bed.” Gavin ran his hand through his hair. Inviting the android to his apartment was a stupid idea, he didn’t know what to do with himself. “Are you… do you need anything?”

“I’m sure I can manage to look after myself until you wake up,” Nines said simply, not even looking up from his book. 

“Right,” Gavin sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets, fuck this was awkward. Better to just head to his room now and read in there. Truth be told, he hadn’t been reading at all. He felt too awkward in his own goddamn home. He wanted to start a conversation maybe, something to end the silence, but he couldn’t think of what to say. 

“Sleep well,” Nines said, just as Gavin opened the door to his bedroom. 

“Thanks,” Gavin muttered before going into his room and shutting the door. Fuck, he was a shitty host. Gavin collapsed onto his messy bed and groaned into his pillow. 

 

Gavin managed to fall asleep before three a.m. that night. He wakes up that Sunday morning and realizes he must have tired himself out from punching the wall and then shoving and tackling Nines. Fuck, Nines was still there, sleeping on the couch. And they had the day off unless another victim was found. Gavin left his room to see Nines fully dressed in Gavin’s sweatshirt and his Cyberlife jeans from before. 

“You could’ve woken me if you were already awake,” Gavin muttered, yawning and making his way into the kitchen to make his coffee, only to see it was already made and still hot. 

“I wanted to let you sleep.”

Gavin nodded and poured himself a cup of coffee, deciding to sit on the couch on the opposite side of Nines. “Thanks,” He said, gesturing to his coffee, he knew Nines had made it for him. “Let me finish this cup and I’ll take you home.”

“I don’t want to go home,” Nines said, blue eyes once again cold and calculating. Gavin thought that must have just been the android’s version of resting bitch face. “If it’s not too much trouble perhaps you could just drop me off at the office.”

“Why don’t you want to go home?”

“Connor isn’t home. He’s with Hank right now, most likely for the whole day. I’d be left alone to take care of his dogs.”

“You don’t like dogs?”

“I like most dogs, just not Connor’s. They slobber all over me.” Gavin laughed at that, imagining a pissed off Nines with two dogs licking his face.

“Why the office?”

“I could work on the case.”

“And what would you do? Fill out paperwork? You do that in five minutes.” Gavin sighed, “Besides, when  _ I  _ have a day off,  _ you  _ have the day off, remember?” Nines' lips twitched into something like an involuntary smile. “I was going to head to a bookstore today. There’s a place in the mall that still sells real books. You can come.”

Nines' head cocked to the side, blue eyes staring at Gavin inquisitively. “Are you sure?”

Gavin shrugged, “Why the fuck not? We should be together anyways in case we get a call.” Gavin said, trying to convince himself more than the android in front of him that that was all it was. Because he really wasn’t sure why he invited Nines.

Twenty minutes later after Gavin had showered and dressed the two headed outside and walked three blocks to the mall, the human not wanting to waste gas when it was “perfectly shitty weather outside.” They made their way to Dark and Stormy Night books, the place was cluttered with books, rickety shelves from wall to wall and books stacked on top of each other, fitting as many as possible on a single shelf. Gavin waved hello to Andrea, the owner of the place who Gavin had gotten to know _ very _ well on several occasions. He set out for a specific classic he’d had his eye on for several days now. He found it on the very top shelf just out of his reach. Gavin glared helplessly at the book then searched around for a stool. 

“Which one is it?” The android asked, suddenly appearing beside him.

“On the far right, the one with the leather spine,” Gavin grumbled, watching as Nines easily plucked the book from the shelf and handed it to Gavin with a smile. The human glared in response. 

Gavin went to go pay for the book when he turned around Nines was nowhere to be seen. “The fuck…” He muttered under his breath as he left the bookstore, scanning for the big hunk of metal that called himself Nines. He spotted him across the way, staring at a male mannequin through the glass window of a clothing store. “Nines, the fuck are you doing?”

“I like that jacket.” He said, sparing another glance at the leather jacket on display before turning back to Gavin. “You have your book? Yes, let’s move on.”

Gavin glanced at the jacket, pursing his lips. It was a lot like his own, straight leather with no weird patterns on the shoulders, it had four pockets. Unlike Gavin’s, it was made of black leather instead of brown, and it had a loose collar with metal buttons on it.

“Let’s get it,” Gavin said, making his way to the entrance of the store, but Nines stepped in front of him, his head tilted to the side.

“Why?”

Gavin shrugged, “It might make you look less like a dumbass.” He smirked, looking up at the android. “You need all the help you can get.”

“I’ll repay you,” Nines said, following Gavin into the store.

“No need. Just get me coffee when I ask without getting snarky,” He said, looking over his shoulder to smirk at the android. 

“I might not get  _ snarky _ if you actually asked instead of commanded.” Nines retorted. 

Gavin snorted, “Alright, maybe you’re right.” He said lightly. “Go pick out your size.” He said, gesturing to the rack of identical jackets. Nines pulled one out and Gavin paid for it without a word. They spent an hour wandering around and then the next two hours at a coffee shop in the mall, reading and talking politely. 

“Fuck,” Gavin groaned. “I’m almost hoping we get a call that there’s another body. Otherwise, we have jack shit. But still, it’s fucked up that I’m hopi ng for one.” Elle had said that Sam had preferred to stay out of the revolution. Gavin's plausible theory of it being connected to Markus' protests seemed unlikely now. Gavin figured that Sam was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“It is worrying how smart this guy must have to be to have left no clues, no fingerprints, nothing. It is bad that we need another body, Gavin, but don’t feel bad about it. You want to stop the killer, that’s all that matters.”

Gavin nodded, he was feeling restless. Usually reading calmed him down but that had stopped working half an hour ago. “Let’s go for a walk?” Gavin suggested.

Nines nodded, “You need to get all your energy out. Your stress level is increasing the more you sit here.”

“Don’t analyze me, Christ, I’m not a suspect.” Having the android analyze him had him all flustered and he didn’t know why. He kept thinking about cold blue eyes analyzing every last detail on his body and he felt weird, and he felt like he was blushing. He shook his head, looking back to his book. 

“Sorry, I won’t again.” Nines said, noticing the blush that had creeped up onto Gavin’s cheeks. Strange.

They walked outside, Gavin just now noticing that the sun was beginning to go down. Gavin wasn’t really surprised, he had woken up much later than usual, and it was still daylight savings time, so the sun set much earlier in the day. They took the long way home, Gavin doing his best to not focus on the case, instead on the sidewalk, the houses he passed, Nines, anything else. Dwelling on it wouldn’t do too much good, only frustrate him. 

They crossed through an alley and Nines held his arm out in front of Gavin, stopping the human from moving any further. Gavin moved his gaze from the sidewalk to the man several feet away from them. He didn’t look more than twenty years old, but Gavin could make out from this distance the telltale signs of a red ice user. Twitchy body, red eyes, clearly agitated. The most worrying thing was the shaky hand with a gun pointed at Nines. 

“Well, what do we have here?” The man said, glaring at Nines. “A plastic freak.”

“I’m going to advise you to put the gun down,” Gavin said, “We’re both officers of the DPD, and if you harm either one of us the charges will be a lot stronger than just pointing a gun at us.” Gavin willed himself to remain calm, aggression matching aggression wouldn’t do anything here. Gavin cursed himself for not bringing his gun with him.

“Oh  _ wow _ . An android police officer. They’re even taking your jobs now, huh? That’s why I’m here, in this fucking disgusting ass alley. Lost my job to one of these plastic toys.”

“I’ve called in backup, they will be here any minute. Best to lower your gun and come quietly.” Nines said.

“Shut the fuck up, you piece of shit.”

“That piece of shit is a respected officer of the DPD. Put the gun down bef-”

He knew he had spoken the wrong words as the crazed man shifted the gun to aim at Gavin. He heard the click of the gun and before Gavin could react he was shoved forward to fall on his knees. He heard Nines groan in pain, but he didn’t waste any time in rushing at the man, tackling him to the ground and knocking the gun out of his hands. He flipped him on his stomach and wrestled his arms behind his back. Now that he had the situation under control, Gavin turned to glance at his partner.

“Nines, fuck, are you okay?”

“I got hit in the arm, but I’ll be fine. Backup will be here in two minutes.”

Nines' calculations seemed to be correct because Gavin could already hear the sirens. Gavin left the drugged up man in the custody of Tina, while he and Nines walked the last five minutes to his apartment. The android clutched it’s left arm, blue blood leaking into the material of Gavin’s sweatshirt. He ran his hands through his hair, wracked with guilt. Nines could feel pain, couldn’t he? He should’ve been more careful, but he didn’t think that man would’ve actually shot at him. And Nines had jumped in the way. The dumbass. 

“Are you going to be alright?” Gavin asked, his apartment building in clear sight. He could see the android’s brows were furrowed in pain.

“Yes. I need you to take me to see Connor. The bullet seems to be lodged in my arm.”

“Nines, what the fuck? Why didn’t you say something earlier?” 

“You can do nothing about it.”

“Yes I can, I’m actually trained in this, dumbass.” Gavin shifted their bags to his right hand and grabbed Nines' bicep, pulling him along faster to his apartment. Once they got instead, Gavin threw the bags to the floor, heading into the bathroom to get his medical kit from under the sink. “Take off the sweatshirt,” He called to Nines from the bathroom. 

“That’s really forward of you, Gavin. And to think, you haven’t even bought me dinner.”

Gavin blushed, glad that the android couldn’t see it. “You can’t even eat, fucker. Take it off so I can see your wound.” He grabbed the kit and headed back into the living room, turning on all his lamps for better light. He set the kit on the coffee table and rummaged through it. He found a pair of tweezers and turned to look at the android’s arm. He inspected the wound, the area around the skin had become transparent to reveal the white silicone material underneath. 

Gavin held his breath to make his hand as steady as possible as he went for the bullet with his tweezers. Gavin winced as he heard his friend hiss in pain as he dragged the bullet out. “Thank god it’s whole, don’t know what I could've done if it had shattered.” He said, dropping the blue blood covered bullet in a metal tray. 

“I would probably have to get my arm replaced,” Nines said simply, wiping away leaked blood from his arm with a bandage. “My skin should repair itself within the next couple of hours.” Gavin thought that he should be freaked out that this android could just  _ repair _ itself, but he actually found it pretty fucking cool.

“You are such a fucking dumbass,” Gavin said, tossing the tweezers back into the kit. “Don’t jump in front of me again.”

“He would’ve shot you in the chest. You could’ve died. I, at least, can be repaired. It was the best possible solution.” 

“I don’t care if I get hurt. Fuck,” Gavin muttered, running his hand through his hair. Nines noticed Gavin often did this unconsciously when he was worried. Was Gavin worried about him?

“Your life is valuable to me.” Gavin didn’t have any response to that. He couldn’t look away from Nines' eyes, they seemed gentle right now, not cunning or calculating. How the hell did Kamski make them look so realistic? “Were you worried about me?”

“O-of course I was.” Gavin sputtered. “You getting seriously injured could affect the investigation.” He said, mimicking the android’s earlier words. 

“I’m fine now, Gavin.”

“I know, but don’t pull that shit again. I’ll kick your ass if you do.”

“Okay, Gavin,” Nines said, smiling. They both knew full well that Gavin wouldn’t. Gavin switched on the TV to a random channel, seeming to be content with watching an old Jurassic World movie. Gavin kicked his boots off and rested his feet on top of the coffee table. Nines wasn’t surprised to find out that the detective liked movies about dinosaurs. Nines was surprised though, when hours later the detective fell asleep, his head leaning against the now healed arm of the android. 

Nines didn’t dare move. Not when after a few moments Gavin shifted in his sleep, his head now falling in Nines' lap, his body slumping on the couch. Nines liked how peaceful the detective looked, his jaw was slack and not held high with that admirable determination to get what he wanted, like it always was. While the way the detective always upheld that cold exterior was commendable, it was nice to see him so… unguarded. It was nice to see the real Gavin slip through the cracks of that exterior these past few days. Gavin had let Nines see the real him, the Gavin that was kind, the Gavin that cared and worried about other people, the Gavin that was more than just a little broken inside. The Gavin that trusted Nines enough to fall asleep on his shoulder. Nines couldn’t describe how that made him feel, no words other than… honored. Yes, he was honored to be the person that Gavin let the facade slip for, even if it was unintentional. Nines couldn’t resist running his hands through the detective’s brown hair, just like how Gavin did when he was stressed. Nines froze, his hand halfway through Gavin’s hair when the detective shifted in his sleep, pressing his head up unconsciously into Nines' hand and closer to the warm skin of the android. Nines ran his hand through Gavin’s soft hair again, figuring it was okay for him to do this when the human didn’t wake up from his touch. 

He had been worried too when that man went to shoot Gavin. He had reconstructed it in his mind, he could’ve run at the man and knocked the gun from his hand, but that would've been a second too late and the bullet would've hit Gavin. While Gavin had a survival probability rate of 89%, that was far too low for Nines and he had found himself pushing the human out of the way. 

He would do it again, Nines thought as his programming advised him to sleep. He realized that he would stop any bullet from hitting his partner, he would stop anyone that tried to harm the human detective in front of him. While he realized that Gavin wanted to protect people, Nines thought that Gavin should have someone to protect him. Even if that person was a dumb tin can, as Gavin said. Though Nines had realized it was a fondness in Gavin’s voice, not hate. There was a difference between the two. Nines could see that now after encountering that man in the alley whose words had been truly hateful. 

Nines finally listened to his programming, closing his eyes, even as his hand still ran through Gavin’s soft hair. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about that last chapter and the sadness but I hope this made up for it
> 
> I'll be posting again Sunday


	5. Chapter 5

Gavin opened his eyes to find himself not in his bed. He realized he had fallen asleep on the couch, but that didn’t explain the gentle hand running through his hair, in a quite relaxing way if he was being honest. Last night’s events slowly came back to him. Nines got shot, but he was fine now. 

Nines had taken a bullet for him. 

_ Nines _ . He had fallen asleep on the couch next to Nines. Gavin sat up slowly, blinking away the sleep. He had fallen asleep on Nines' lap. Fuck. Fuck.  _ Fuck _ . That had to make things weird. To make matters worse, Nines was still shirtless. He had to tear his gaze away from staring at the freckles and little moles covering his chest and stomach. The android seemed to be asleep, but the damn thing had been running his hand through Gavin’s hair. 

He wanted to be weirded out, but he wasn’t. Whether he liked it or not he hadn’t slept that well in twenty fucking years. He hadn’t slept that well since Noah had left him, Gavin realized. Gavin hoped that this wouldn’t make things awkward between them. The banter they had going felt more normal than anything else, he didn’t want to go back to where Gavin just swore at him all the time and the android only regarded him with that coldness in his eyes. 

He couldn’t worry about that right now, he had to get ready for work. When he had finished showering and changing into clean clothes, he came out of the bathroom still drying off his hair with a towel. Nines was up now, standing and looking into a mirror, messing with the sleeves of his new leather jacket. Nines turned and Gavin’s breath nearly caught as he looked at his partner. 

Nines was wearing the deep blue v-neck that Gavin had given him the other night, but it was so tight on him that Gavin could see the faint outline of Nines' six-pack. The jacket fits him perfectly, emphasizing his broad shoulders, but his neck wasn’t covered in that turtleneck and it made him seem less intimidating and more friendly. 

“Do I look good?” Nines asked, that smug smirk on his lips as if he could read all the wild thoughts running through Gavin’s mind. But they were just thoughts, they didn't mean anything. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t find Nines attractive, he had a thing for buff men, but he kept his eyes from drifting too far down and staring at the toned stomach of the android.

“Yeah, actually,” Gavin smirked right back. “I was right, you do look less like a dumbass.” Gavin decided not to mention their sleeping positions, or how Nines had stayed over two nights in a row when no one else had even set foot in his apartment. He tried not to think about what that meant to him. 

Gavin tossed the towel into the bathroom, finger combing his hair. “Let’s go,” They headed out to Gavin’s car and had barely driven five minutes when Nines' LED flashes yellow and his eyes squinted. 

“We have another victim,” Nines said grimly.

  
  


“He’s a GS200, a security android. He’s owned by the state, there’s no one to talk to. At least there’s no one linked to his file.” Nines said after scanning the broken android. “He was last reported on duty thirty hours ago.” The body had been found in an alley, like the others, his hair had been crudely shaved off. There were several gashes in his right arm, likely from a knife. His eyes had been pried out, likely with the same knife as before. It had been hit with a baseball bat so many times that the silicone on his arms and body and had been bent out of place.“He was hung…” Nines said, looking at the traces of rope that were on the victim’s neck.

“But he’s an android, most of you don’t need to breathe and can’t even feel pain. What would hanging do?”

“While this one did not feel the pain, he still would have felt the pressure around his neck, making it quite uncomfortable and even torturous if the assailant was doing other things to hurt him while he was suspended in the air. Given the female android, it is clear he is not against doing that.”

Gavin crouched down next to the body, looking for the symbol to confirm it was the killer they had been looking for. He found it a second later, pointing it out to Nines. “This is the work of our killer, alright.” Gavin sighed, “No fingerprints, right?”

“No. Same gloves though.”

“And the burn mark?”

“Eighteen hours old. The killer would have had him for at least twelve hours before branding him and dumping the body, considering the last time he was reported on duty.”

“There’s nothing? Not even a hair, an eyelash, a drop of sweat?”

“Nothing that I have detected, it seems that he handled the body with care, making sure not to leave any trace. I will sweep the area once again and look for microscopic clues.”

Gavin nodded. “Meet me in the car when you’re done, we’ll head to the station.”

Gavin felt helpless as he headed to the car. There was nothing he could do, he had to wait until the lab technicians were done inspecting the body, but he doubted they would find anything that Nines hadn’t. How the fuck were they supposed to catch this guy when he didn’t leave a trace of evidence? He’d only gone to areas with no cameras so they couldn't even catch him on the CCTV. Even the tattoo turned out to be just a burn mark, not actual ink, so they couldn’t trace it. The killer had planned everything out before, not wanting to make the slightest mistake, and a large part of Gavin was afraid he would fail on his first android case and make a bad impression on Captain Fowler. And he was even more afraid that they would never find him and this case would go unsolved. Nines joined him in the car a few moments later, sighing and leaning his head against the headrest.

“I’m going to connect to his memory when the technicians are done,”

“But he’s blind. I thought you said it wasn’t necessary to do?”

“I thought it wasn’t, but if there’s a chance I can get anything out of this then I have to try. You might be right, I could get a voice clip.” Nines dreaded the moment he would connect with that android, but he knew he had to do it for the investigation. Nines was an RK900, he was built for police work, he had to do his job. If he couldn’t even do that, then he might as well shut himself down.

“It’s going to be a few hours until they’re done,” Gavin stated, finally starting the car and pulling out of the parking space. 

“That’s alright, I want to look into where the killer’s base of operations could be anyways. I have a theory.”

Once back at the office, Nines pulled out a cheap paper map of the city of Detroit. Gavin watched as he circled the location where each of the bodies had been found. Then circled a location on the map. Gavin recognized it immediately, he had passed it a few times before.

“The old abandoned church?” Gavin said raising his eyebrows. 

“Yes, It is almost directly the center point between all three locations where the bodies were found. And it just so happens to be the place that Jericho regrouped to after the ship sank.”

“That’s a big ‘fuck you’ to androids. I guess that’s what he’s going for if he’s there. But why would he do this when he seems to be the type of person to think it all out?”

“He did, that’s why they’re on opposite edges of the city. But I think he did it subconsciously. All the locations, they’re all about the same distance away from the church.” Nines dropped the pen he’d been using on the desk and stood up straight. “I’m not saying he’s there, but if I find nothing in the android’s memory than it’s at least worth looking at.”

Gavin nodded, “You’re right, we should at least check it out.” Gavin sat in his desk chair, “I asked the technicians to give me a call when they were done, they said it shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”

Nines nodded, “I’ll get you a coffee,” He rose from his seat and headed over to the small kitchen located by Fowler’s office. Gavin smiled, watching the android walk away.

“You got Nines clothes,” A grumpy voice said behind him, one he recognized as Lieutenant Anderson. 

“I did,” Gavin said. “He looked dumb still wearing that Cyberlife shit, I don’t know why he was still wearing it. But it’s just a jacket and an old shirt of mine.”

“Connor offered to get him clothes but he wasn’t interested before.You called Nines a he.” Hank said, more a statement than a question. “Not an it.”

“So?” Gavin said, suddenly feeling cornered. 

“That’s not very like you. And you’re letting him stay at your apartment.”

“I didn’t really invite him,” Gavin lied, he didn’t want to talk about his changed feelings about the android to anyone, especially this old fucker. “It was convenience.”

“I heard about what happened last night,” Gavin froze, wondering how the old fart knew that he and Nines fell asleep on the couch together. Had Nines told Connor? “You almost got shot, and Nines saved your ass.”

“Hank,” Gavin said, willing ice in his eyes and bones. “Why the fuck are you here?”

“It was hard at first for me too,” Hank said, gesturing to Nines who was now joined by Connor in the kitchen. Connor was smiling brightly at Nines, while the RK900 smiled at him fondly. It was so different from the smirks he had given Gavin, and Gavin didn't understand why that upset him a little bit. “It was hard for me to understand at first why Connor acted so human and so much like a machine at the same time. The RK series, they’re prototypes. I think that’s why Connor struggled so much after realizing he was deviant. A part of him wanted to focus on the mission and do what is necessary, but the other part of him, the part that felt human feelings contradicted things a lot. It took him awhile to find that happy middle, and he still struggles sometimes. It was hard for me to understand how they could have feelings, but getting to know Connor made me realize it wasn’t so impossible. They are more than slaves. They are people too, they have their own minds and thoughts and feelings.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“You hated androids more than I did. I can only imagine how conflicted you’re feeling.”

“I’m fine,” And for a moment Gavin almost convinced himself of that too. 

“Be Nines' friend,” Hank said turning to leave. “Reach out to him, it’s truly amazing to see how they reach back,” Hank said over his shoulder, heading back to his desk. Gavin was too stunned to say anything snarky back. 

Gavin pondered for a moment, not being able to decide between being angry or thankful. He settled on being annoyed as Nines set a coffee cup in front of him, “Thanks,” he muttered unconsciously before he took a sip.

“Holy _ shit _ ,” The android gasped. “Detective Reed can be polite. Who knew?”

“Shut it,” Gavin barked, but there was a real smile there. Not a smirk or a grimace, a smile. And Nines found himself wanting to see it again and again. Perhaps he would, the detective seemed to be in a good mood today, despite their troubling case. 

“What did Lieutenant Anderson want?” Nines said, that spark of friendship already gone and he was back to being as professional as ever, almost giving Gavin a whiplash.

“Nothing of importance.” Gavin lied, even though he would never tell the android or the lieutenant just how important that conversation was to him. He looked at Nines and thought that perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing to not hate androids every second of every day.

  
  


They had draped a sheet over him, at least. But a plain white sheet didn’t help much when Gavin already knew the horror that was underneath it. Nines lifted the sheet, repeating the same process as he had done to Andrew until the android’s body lurched and then stayed still. Nines reached for its hand, and Gavin noticed the twitch in his hand. Was Nines scared? 

Nines took the android’s hand in his own, immediately he felt it. The restraints against his neck. He couldn’t see, only flashes of red in the darkness. He focused through the pain as he felt the murderer beat him, he gasped for breath, clawing at the rope around his neck. “Fucking piece of shit. You think you deserve to breathe?”

_ There _ . A voice clip. He let go of the android’s hand and tumbled to the ground, coughing and sputtering. “Whoa, what the fuck? Nines, are you okay?” He knelt to the ground as Nines fell to his knees, a hand braced on the floor and the other clawing at his throat. His LED was flashing a bright red, and Gavin knew that meant he was very stressed. Gavin could see the android trying to speak but he couldn’t. 

“Nines, it’s going to be alright.” The android kept breathing heavily.  _ Fuck _ . What the fuck was he supposed to do? He thought to back in high school, his friend had panic attacks nearly every day, Gavin was around him so often he learned that putting his arms around his friend helped. His friend, Tony, told him that it helped him a lot, it made him realize that there was someone there and that he wasn’t going to die. Gavin tried that now, he didn’t know what else to do. He pulled the sputtering android into his arms. “It’s going to be alright, Nines.” He muttered into the android’s ear. 

“I… I felt it. I felt the rope around my neck. I felt like it was me. I-I couldn’t breathe…” 

“I’m sorry,” Gavin said, holding his friend closer to him, cupping his face that had tears streaming down it. “I’m so so sorry. You’ll be alright. I’ve got you.” 

Nines didn’t know what to feel, he didn’t know how to properly express it. The choking feeling was gone now, but it haunted him. He felt Gavin’s arms around him, and Nines clutched onto Gavin’s jacket so he had something to hold on to. “I-I got a voice clip,” 

Gavin shushed him. “Don’t worry about that right now. It doesn’t matter.”

_ It does matter _ , Nines wanted to argue, but he couldn’t find the strength to. The memory haunted him, but Gavin’s warmth around him made him realize that he wasn’t there. He wasn’t being tortured, he wasn’t lying dead under a white sheet on a cold metal table. He was here, in Gavin’s arms. His heart thundered in his chest and he breathed  heavily, but he focused on Gavin who was whispering apologies and careful words into Nines' ear. Gavin didn’t stop him as Nines wrapped both his arms around Gavin, clutching onto the back of his jacket. He could feel tears flowing down his cheeks, dampening Gavin’s shirt. He wanted to feel weak, he shouldn’t be crying but he couldn’t make it stop and he thought that Gavin would understand. He didn’t have to feel weak in front of Gavin. Nines buried his face into Gavin’s neck, breathing shallowly as Gavin held him. Gavin thought he should feel awkward, but he didn’t, he could only bring himself to worry about the android in his arms.

The two sat there huddled on the cold linoleum floor of the lab until Nines' breathing turned normal and the android pulled himself out of Gavin’s arms. “I have a voice clip,” Nines said again. He had to focus on the mission, that’s what he was built for. If he couldn’t even do this right, then he shouldn’t even be here.

“Nines…” Gavin said softly. “You don’t have to be alright right now. We can go home for the day. You don’t have to worry about work right now.” Gavin stood, holding out his hand to help Nines up from off the floor. 

“I want to. I don’t want anyone else to feel that ever again. We have to catch him.”

“Alright,” Gavin sighed. “We can send the clip off for someone else to analyze this though. Then we’re going home.” 

“Gavin, I’ll be fine.”

“You should rest. A panic attack can’t be good for your systems.”

Nines sighed and then nodded, he knew Gavin was right. Even now there were warnings flashing red in the corner of his vision. “Thank you, Gavin. You really helped me there.”

It was only then Gavin realized his hand was still holding the android’s, but that didn’t bother him as much as it should’ve. “Of course,” Gavin shrugged. “It was the least I could do.”

“Actually,” Nines stated, staring deeply into Gavin’s gray eyes, he couldn't look away. “You could’ve done a lot less. Thank you.”

Gavin found himself staring back into Nines' eyes, which had turned into a welcoming blue ocean. He found himself wanting to lean forward and close the distance between them, his body felt cold without Nines' warmth surrounding him. “You’re welcome.” Gavin broke their eye contact and their hands. He shouldn’t be wanting to kiss someone after they just had a fucking panic attack. He didn’t know what he found more disturbing; wanting to kiss an android or wanting to kiss Nines, his friend and partner, after he’d had a panic attack. He looked at his hand, it felt like pins and needles were stabbing at his hand but it wasn’t uncomfortable, it only made him hunger for Nines' touch again. And he wasn’t sure why.

Nines frowned as the detective pulled away, already missing the contact. He closed his eyes and sent the voice clip to Captain Fowler and an analyzer with a short message. He opened his eyes to see Gavin frowning at his open palm, for what reason Nines did not know.

“I sent the voice clip out. We can go home now.” Nines walked out the door, Gavin following close behind him. 

For some unknown reason, Gavin liked how the android had called it home too.

  
  


It was around two in the afternoon when the two had made it back to Gavin’s apartment. Gavin groaned something about being hungry and padded over to the kitchen, opening his small pantry. Nines slid off his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack. He made himself comfortable on the couch as Gavin rummaged around the kitchen. He came out ten minutes later with a bowl of spaghetti and settled himself on the couch next to Nines, sitting with his legs crossed and his bowl on top of his legs. Nines thought it was a strange way to eat but he shrugged and turned his attention to the TV that was playing a rerun of That 70’s Show. Gavin explained that it was a really old show and only a few channels still played things like this, but this show was a favorite of his when he was a teen. Nines found himself being amused by the character Fez, the silly foreign man reminded him a bit of his brother.

“What are you smiling about?” Gavin asked and Nines noticed parmesan cheese sprinkled on his lips.

“Fez,” Nines said. “He reminds me of Connor. Hopelessly confused about other people’s jokes and habits.” He said as Fez tried to make Kelso go into the men’s bathroom after watching Jackie tell Donna to follow her into the women’s. “That right there is something Connor would do.”

Gavin laughed. “You’re fucking right, holy shit,” Nines smirked in victory at achieving at making Gavin laugh. It was a wonderful sight, the corner of his eyes scrunched together as he smiled. Nines realized he wanted to try to make that happen again and again.

The hours dwindled until it was seven in the evening and Gavin got a call. He hung up and looked at Nines. 

“That was Fowler. The man you heard is Aaron Wells, we were only able to identify him because he had been charged previously for possession with intent to sell of red ice. We have his last known address but we’re not going tonight. Fowler sent some officers to stake out the area and see if they can catch him doing anything or sneaking off somewhere before you and I head in there tomorrow morning. He told us to rest up for tomorrow.”

Nines nodded, “Makes sense. We can’t prove it’s him yet. We have to catch him in the act because I doubt we’ll get a confession.” Gavin got up and went to his bedroom, tossing a pair of pajama pants out to Nines. Once they were both changed they sat on the couch together alternating between reading and watching whatever was on. Gavin started to yawn around ten and kept yawning until Nines suggested he go to bed. 

Gavin closed his book, tossing it on the other side of the couch. “We should sleep, yeah.” Gavin got up from the couch and wandered around his apartment, trying to get the courage to ask what he’d been thinking about for the past few hours. He finally stopped by his bedroom door, Nines had been watching him the whole time with one eyebrow quirked in a silent question.

“Look, I know it may not exactly be appropriate, but truth is when I slept next to you that’s the best sleep I’ve had in twenty fucking years. I don’t want to risk being tired again, not now at least. So what I’m suggesting is… maybe you should sleep next to me again.”

Nines cocked his head, “In your bed?”

“Well… yeah, the couch is fucking uncomfortable.” Gavin shuffled his feet uncomfortably, maybe it was a mistake asking this. But he thought to what Hank said, about how he should try to be Nines' friend, he should reach out to him. Gavin hated that the advice had come from Hank, but he knew the lieutenant was right. And even more worrying, Gavin wanted to reach out to Nines anyways. 

“I think it’s a good idea,” Nines said simply.

And that was that. Gavin laid down on the left side of the bed, propping himself up slightly on his pillows. Gavin held out his hand as Nines started to pull off his shirt. “Wait, the fuck are you doing?” He asked, trying not to stare at the toned abs of the android.

“Body heat,” Nines stated simply. “It might help you sleep better.”

Gavin shrugged, if Nines wanted to be shirtless, Gavin might as well enjoy the view a little. Nines settled on the bed next to him as Gavin reached over to turn off the lamp. They at first tried to sleep face to face, but Gavin didn’t know where to put his hands. Then Gavin and Nines laid on their backs, and Nines stayed that while Gavin turned on his side, facing away from Nines but close enough that their bodies were still close. 

Gavin sighed, he was just making this even more awkward by trying not to make it so awkward. Eventually, the heat of Nines behind him and the comforting feeling of knowing he was there sent Gavin into a deep sleep, and Nines fell asleep shortly after.

Nines woke up around one in the morning to movement on the other side of the bed. Gavin had shifted in his sleep so his head was laying Nines' chest. One of Gavin’s hands were cradling his head, the other was draped over Nines' stomach. Nines noticed that their legs had somehow managed to tangle together. He didn’t mind it at all, he almost treasured the feeling of the human being this close to him. He moved his hands from behind his head and had one wrap around Gavin’s sleeping body, shuffling them closer. The other he set on top of Gavin’s, almost holding hands. It felt right to Nines. He closed his eyes and slept, not waking again until morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again thank you guys so much for all the comments, they're so awesome to read
> 
> I'll see you guys Tuesday for the next chapter


	6. Chapter 6

Gavin found himself pressed closely to the android. His eyes blinked away the sleepiness and realizing what position they were in, legs tangled and arms holding each other, it felt so nice that he didn’t give a fuck anymore. He hadn’t been this close to anyone in years. He closed his eyes and snuggled closer to the warm body of his friend. He didn’t care if it would be awkward when both of them were up and fully awake, he just knew he liked being this close to Conan. He liked being close enough that he could feel the android’s warm breath on the back of his neck. He liked it, and it scared him all the same. But he couldn’t be bothered to care anymore. Conan’s hand was wrapped around Gavin’s, and Gavin found himself intertwining their fingers as he drifted back to sleep.

Conan woke up to the slight shift of movement. It was 6:52 a.m., and he knew he and the detective would have to get up soon. But he felt the shift of Gavin moving and he could sense that he was awake, but the human surprised him, even more, when he moved closer to him rather than farther away. What was this feeling? This warmth in the pit of his stomach as he opened his eyes and looked at the detective who had fallen back asleep on his chest. This warmth seemed to only appear when he was looking at Gavin. Was this friendship? No, he had never felt this way with Connor, and he felt that his brother was his friend too. This was something more than friendship, but he couldn’t define it. He noticed their hands, their fingers intertwined. He tried to name the feeling that was stirring inside him but he didn’t know what it was.

Conan stayed awake, looking at the sleeping Gavin and relished in the warmth.   
  


Gavin pulled out of Conan’s grasp to turn off the alarm that was blaring from his phone behind him. Instead of getting up immediately, he flopped onto his back and stretched. Falling asleep on the bed had been much more comfortable than on the couch.

“Are you feeling well rested, Gavin?” Conan asked, shifting his body to prop himself up on his elbow, gazing at his still sleepy friend.

“Yeah, actually. How about you?”

“All my systems are fully functional and alert.”

“Good,” He sighed. “We have to wait until Fowler calls me again. He’ll want us to go to the suspect’s apartment as soon as possible.”

“Right. I’ll start your coffee.”

“You don’t have to.”

Conan rolled his eyes, getting up from the bed. “I want to. Go and take your shower.”

Gavin nodded, watching the android go. It should feel awkward between them, that’s what he’d been expecting. But it wasn’t. It felt  _normal_. Like they’ve been doing this for years. Gavin stood from his bed, leaning backward to crack his back. Yeah, it felt normal.

Gavin emerged from the shower feeling awake and refreshed and fully dressed as he left the bathroom. “It’s weird,” Gavin said as he approached the kitchen to where Conan was standing, already dressed in jeans and one of Gavin’s shirts. “I’m not used to not feeling tired every second of every day.”

“I’m glad you aren’t tired,” Conan said, and he turned, revealing a place filled with scrambled eggs and sat them on the kitchen table, next to a hot cup of coffee.

“Christ, Conan, you didn't have to do this. I could’ve made my own breakfast.”

“It was more efficient if I made it while you were showering,” Conan smirked as Gavin sat down in his chair.

Gavin shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth, he didn’t really expect them to be good, but they tasted delicious. They even had cheese in them, the way Gavin liked it. He nodded, “They’re good. Thanks, Conan.”

“Of course,” Conan sat down in the chair across from him and opened his book. Conan was a little over halfway in, he could have finished by now, but he truly wanted to take his time. And it seemed Gavin was right, it was a lot better than just sparknoting it, as Gavin had called it.

“How do you like it so far?” Gavin asked after chewing some of his eggs.

“It’s great. I’m surprised at how much hate you can have for a fictional character.”

“Cathy?” Gavin asked, remembering the most manipulative character in the book. Conan nodded, and the two chatted about the book some more before Gavin got a call on his cell phone. “That was Fowler,” He said after he had hung up. “We need to leave as soon as possible. I asked him to send some officers to keep an eye on that abandoned church though, just in case. The officers that were staking out the apartment didn’t see anyone enter or leave, Aaron might not be at the apartment anymore.”

Conan stood, pulling on his leather jacket. Gavin tried not to look at the small area of his stomach that showed when Conan stretched and his shirt lifted up. “We better get going then, we shouldn’t dawdle.”

“I agree,” Gavin said, already pulling on his boots. He grabbed his gun and badge and saw the look in Conan’s eyes and interrupted him before he could speak. “Don’t worry, my vest is in the car. I’ll put it on when we get there.”

Gavin slipped on the bulletproof vest after he got out from his car. If this man was dangerous, it couldn’t hurt to be a little safer. The two slowly climbed up the steps and walked down the hall to apartment twenty-five. Gavin knocked on the door. “Detroit Police Department. Open up!” He didn’t hear a response, only a crash from inside. They had a warrant for this in case this problem should arise. Gavin nodded to Conan, who reared back and kicked the door open, Gavin tried not to think about how badass that was.

“Get behind me,” He said to Conan, already raising his gun. The apartment door opened up to an average sized living room, and Gavin first inspected the room on the left, finding a bathroom with packets of red ice on the counter. He heard a crash to the right, coming from the kitchen. He spared a glance at Conan before approaching slowly towards the kitchen. He saw the man, Aaron Wells, stuffing random bags and pieces of equipment into a big duffle bag.

“Freeze!” Gavin said, and Gavin didn’t notice the gun stuffed in the back of Aaron’s jeans. He didn’t notice until it was already being aimed and fired at him. Before he could shoot back, he was knocked to the side. The bullet hit Conan squarely in the chest, and Gavin couldn’t do much more than yell for his partner. He couldn’t stop Aaron from emptying the rest of the magazine into Conan’s body and leaping out of the fire escape.

“I need backup!” Gavin screamed into his walkie-talkie, crawling for Conan. “Officer down, I repeat officer down. Suspect left through the fire escape. Conan… Conan’s down.” He heard someone crackle a response, but he couldn’t hear it, he could barely see as he cradled his partner in his arms. Blue blood leaked from Conan’s mouth. “Stay with me, Conan. Someone’s gonna help you.  _Shit_ , why’d you have to do that again?”

“Gavin, I’m going to shut myself down,” Conan said, sputtering blue blood.

“Conan, no, someone will be here any minute. Stay with me!” Gavin cried helplessly, clutching onto his friend for dear life. Blue blood was everywhere, all over Conan’s chest and covering Gavin’s hands.

“I’m too damaged, I will be worse if I am forced to shut down. I don’t want them to put me in another body, I could lose memories.”

Gavin nodded, trying to ignore the blue blood all over his hands. “We’re going to save you, I promise.” Gavin held Conan even as his eyes flickered closed as his LED turned from red to yellow, the only sign that a part of Conan was still alive in there.

  
  


Gavin paced the sterile hallway of the Cyberlife lab. Conan had been in there for a few hours now, and no one had come out to tell him how his friend was doing. He didn’t know if he was alive or dead, he didn’t know how badly he was damaged, he didn’t know if he would ever wake up. Gavin just kept pacing the floors that smelled strongly of disinfectant and tried not to obsess over moments he and Conan had shared over the past few days. Glances at each other over their books as they sat on either side of the couch reading. Gentle brushes of their arms as they walked next to each other. He really tried not to think about their intertwined hands, and how he might never feel that again. He tried and failed miserably. Every moment, every glance, every smile they shared ran through his mind. If Conan died or forgot everything, these memories were all that Gavin would have left. Even now, he couldn’t remember exactly the way their hands look intertwined together, he couldn’t remember the exact smile or the playfulness in Conan’s blue eyes at the coffee shop. Gavin paced the hallway raking his hands through his hair, chasing memories.

Finally, someone opened the door. A woman who seemed to be in her late thirties with pretty red hair that stood out against her white lab coat. She didn’t look happy. “We did all we could, but he’s a prototype. We don’t have all the necessary biocomponents to fix him. There’s one that might work that we do have, but it could be dangerous if it’s not compatible with his body. And there are two others that he needs to have but we don’t have them here. And those are just the components he needs, there are others that are broken now, completely unique ones. He keeps losing thirium, we can keep pouring it in but he’ll just keep losing it.”

Gavin thought for a moment, running his hand through his hair over and over again. “Give me a list of the biocomponents he needs.”

“Detective-”

“Just do it, please. I need the list and enough thirium to last him an hour-long car drive.” Gavin knew what he had to do.

  
  


“Ah, little brother, what a pleasure.” Gavin had barged through the door after the blonde android had opened it, Conan in his arms. Conan was really fucking heavy, but Gavin could keep him up. He found Elijah Kamski in the first room he looked in, relaxing in a chair by the pool, which was disturbingly the color of blood.

“Kamski, I need your help,” Gavin said, gesturing with his head to Conan in his arms. “I need you to fix him.”

Kamski rose from his seat, gracefully walking to stand in front of Gavin. “What’s this?”

“An RK900. He got hurt badly and they don’t have the parts to fix him. I have a list of what he needs. I know you can fix him. I’ll pay whatever it takes.”

“Come,” He said to Gavin, leading him to a separate room that seemed to be his lab. “Set him down on the table.” Gavin did, carefully moving the android’s body and then fixing Conan’s hair after he was done. It had gotten so messy and he knew the android wouldn’t like it like that. He turned towards Kamski, pulling a list out of his pocket and thrusting it towards him.

Kamski hums as he looks at the list. “A couple of these I’ll have to modify other biocomponents. The others completely from scratch. Strange, I did make a design for an RK900 but I never expected for it to start being produced.”

“He’s the only one,” Gavin said, sparing a glance at his friend. If he didn’t look at Conan’s bloody chest, he could pretend that he was just sleeping.

“I see, is it’s memory intact?”

Gavin nodded, watching as Kamski started to connect machines to Conan’s body. “I think so. He said he was going to shut down manually. He didn’t want his memories to be lost,” Gavin’s voice cracked at the last word, he didn’t know what he would do if Conan woke up and didn’t remember him. He cleared his throat hoping that Kamski hadn’t picked up on it.

But of course, he did. “Memories… huh? How did it get so damaged?”

Gavin looked back at Conan’s face. He had gotten so used to that playful smirk that had danced across Conan’s lips so often, he had almost forgotten what it was coldness. He was reminded of that as he looked at his unconscious partner. His unconscious friend. “We were tracking down this murderer. He saw the suspect had a gun before I did and threw himself in front of me. Fucking dumbass forgot I had a vest on. But he protected me. The shooter got away but Conan protected me. He protected me because he thought he was replaceable.”

“But he  _is_ replaceable. I could easily build a new body for him. Surprisingly it’s a lot easier than repairing his skin.”

“Conan told me that when you transfer memories to another body some of it gets lost or corrupted. Completely random things.”

“That’s true, it is possible.”

“If some things got lost he wouldn’t be my Conan. And that’s something we both wouldn’t want.”

“Gavin, what inspired this change in you?” Gavin finally looked up into the eyes of his brother. He was a lot different than what he remembered, his hair was half shaved and the other half pulled up into a man bun, and it was darker, like the color of Gavin’s hair. He had lost the glasses and trimmed down his beard, this wasn’t the brother he remembered at all. When they were kids his brother was quiet but he at least seemed happy. Now he just seemed ominous and kind of creepy. His brother’s blue eyes stared him down, looking at Gavin like he was a puzzle Kamski was trying to solve. “You used to hate androids of any kind. Now I hear you’re investigating a case on the murders of androids, trying to save them. Then I find you on my doorstep asking me to save an android, and you talk about him like he’s a person, not just a machine. What happened to you, little brother?”

Gavin looked away from the blue eyes of his brother and looked to Conan, only hoping to see  _his_ blue eyes again. “He did. He showed me that he’s alive, that he’s a person. He’s my friend.” Gavin stepped closer to Conan, lifting his hand to let his fingers graze against the side of Conan’s unconscious face, Gavin wished to see Conan’s smirk again, just one more time. The last time he smirked at Gavin was when Gavin struggled to pull his bulletproof vest on at first, eventually needing Conan’s help. Gavin didn’t know it was the last time he would see it, or otherwise, he would have stared at it, committed it to memory.

They stood in silence for a heartbeat, Kamski fixing him with his blue eyes, looking at Gavin like he was the wolf and Gavin was a stumbling baby deer. “What will you do for me if I fix him?”

“Anything,” Gavin whispered, reaching over to take Conan’s hand in his. Conan’s hands were limp and cold in his, he tried not to think about this morning. He tried not to think about how their hands looked intertwined together. He tried not to think that Conan still might not remember it, that Conan might not even remember Gavin.

“Anything, huh? That’s awfully broad.”

“Elijah.” Gavin’s voice broke. And he didn't care that he was crying in front of his brother. He didn’t care. Not when Conan was lying unconscious and hurt in front of him, all because of him. Because Gavin was too reckless, he should’ve noticed the gun. He looked away from Conan and fixed his glistening gray eyes on his brother, wiping away the few tears that had fallen. “ _Eli_. Eli, please.  _Please_.”

“I want you to forgive me. Forgive me for whatever I did that made you mad at me. For taking Mom and Dad’s attention? For making androids? If you can’t forgive me right away at least tell me why you haven’t talked to me in fifteen years.”

“You don’t know?”

“What am I supposed to know?”

“You told Mom and Dad about Noah and I. And they told Noah’s parents. Noah had to leave because his father would rather kill him then let him be gay. I didn’t care about Mom and Dad, I cared about how you betrayed me. We never really got along but we were brothers, I didn’t think you’d go and tell on me. But you did. I can’t forgive you for that.”

“Gavin,” Elijah said softly, and suddenly the man in front of him was his brother again. This was the Elijah that carried him home after he had fallen off his bike and scraped his knee when he was eight. This was the brother that always let him pick the channel on the TV. The one that covered for him when he snuck out to see Noah in the middle of the night. “Mom and Dad already knew about you and Noah. I don’t know how they knew, but I didn’t tell them. They didn’t care about you and Noah. I’m sorry they never cared about you. But they didn’t know about Noah’s dad or they wouldn’t have said anything. But please believe me, Gavin, I never told them. I would never do that to you. I love you, you’re my brother.”

Gavin couldn’t comprehend this right now. For the first time in his life, he didn’t want to think about Noah. Noah was gone. He couldn’t do anything to change that. But Conan… Conan still had a chance. Conan could still live. “Just fix him, please.” He said quietly.

“Of course, Gavin. I was always going to, no strings attached. I would never have waited around so long if I had known-”

“I don’t care.” Gavin interrupted. “Just fix him.” Kamski nodded and headed over to his equipment. Gavin truly didn’t care. He would care later, maybe. But he didn’t want to care about anything else, not until Conan was okay again. Gavin squeezed the android’s hand in his and hoped Conan knew that he was here.

It was hours later when Kamski finally finished he told Gavin to get some rest. “He won’t be able to wake for a couple more hours. Come, I can show you to a room.”

“I’m staying beside him,” Gavin said, determination clear in his voice and in his eyes. “I need to be here when he wakes up.” Kamski nodded solemnly and left the two of them alone.

  
  


When Conan finally opens his eyes, he has to blink them a couple of times to get used to the bright light above him. His chest hurt a lot, and he felt someone gripping tightly onto his hand.  _Gavin._ That was Gavin. He went through his memories, cycling through every moment, every smile, every touch. He remembered it all. He sighed in relief.

When he saw the suspect lift the gun towards Gavin, his mind froze, he didn’t consider other possibilities, he just jumped in front of him, thinking only of Gavin. _Gavin_. Gavin couldn’t get hurt, he wouldn’t let it happen. Nothing else mattered. Not the mission, not the case,  _nothing_.

Gavin sighed in relief when he saw familiar blue eyes open and close. “Conan…” He breathed, still holding his hand.

“Where am I?”

“We’re at Elijah Kamski’s house.”

“Your brother? Gavin, why?”

“Cyberlife didn’t have the proper parts to fix you after you were a dumbass and saved me.  _Again_. Speaking of which, never fucking do that again. I’m serious this time. Or I swear to god, I’ll shoot you myself. But… when they said they couldn’t fix you, that wasn't enough for me. I couldn’t give up on you that easily. I knew Kamski could fix you, so I came here.”

“Your life is valuable to me. I’d do it again.” Conan said without a second thought.

Gavin’s body involuntarily shivered slightly at the serious words. “I had a vest on.”

“A vest would not protect your head or your brain. Which is what he was aiming for.”

“Still, I don’t care. Don’t pull that shit again. It’s annoying to have to come all the way down here.”

“Why are we both here anyways? It’s your brother, you hate him. I understand why  _I_ have to be here, but you don’t.”

“I would do anything to get you back, and there was no way in hell I was leaving your side.” Gavin breathed, the weight having finally been lifted off his chest once Conan had opened his eyes. Gavin didn’t know what to do with himself as a drop of clear liquid fell down the android’s cheeks and to the metal table underneath him. “Hey, don’t cry.” Gavin smiled. “Come on, where’s that stoic, know it all, dumbass tin can that I know?”

“I’m crying cause I’m scared,” Conan said, wiping at his eyes with his free arm. He shook the remaining tears in his eyes away, conjuring a smirk to his lips. “Where’s the real Gavin? This weird nice version of you is scaring the fuck out of me.”

Gavin laughed, just tipped back his head and laughed, and Conan recorded that moment in his mind. Gavin felt lighter than he had in days. “Do you… remember everything?” Gavin asked hesitantly.

“I remember it all,” Conan said, squeezing Gavin’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers like the way they had been that morning. Gavin’s heart thundered in his chest. He’d really thought that’d he’d never get to experience this again. He thought he’d never see Conan’s eyes, or his stupid smirk again. A part of him thought he should pull away before he started to feel things that he couldn’t put away, but he didn’t care anymore. And a part of him knew he was too far gone anyways. But he couldn’t worry about his crush on Conan right now, not when he’d only just woken up. He could get over his crush later. He knew that’s what it was, a crush. He had a crush on Conan. But what could he do about it?

Gavin shook his head. “We’re going to have to get you a fucking vest since you seem to love jumping in front of bullets,” Gavin said, smiling at his friend. Conan was awake, and he remembered everything, that was all that mattered. And Gavin felt like he was fucking flying.

“Whatever. Now tell me, is my leather jacket completely ruined?”

Gavin couldn’t resist himself from tilting back his head and laughing again, Conan again savored that smile. The warmth was there in the pit of his stomach again. The warmth that made Conan truly feel alive, the warmth that made the pain in his chest seem insignificant. He still wasn’t quite sure what the feeling was, but he liked it all the same. He gripped Gavin’s hand, savoring the look on Gavin’s face, the warmth in his familiar gray eyes, the smile that had warmed every cold and cunning silicone piece of his body without Conan even realizing what happened. Conan looked at Gavin’s face and smiled.

Neither Conan nor Gavin noticed as the skin on Conan’s hand that was holding Gavin’s slid back to reveal the white material underneath. Elijah Kamski noticed though, as he walked into the room to check on them. He noticed the human hand holding tenderly onto the white silicone one. He noticed the warm smile and the light in his brother’s gray eyes, and the fond smile on the android’s lips. Elijah noticed it all, and left the room as silently as he had come, glad that his brother seemed to finally be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all Thursday for the next update!


	7. Chapter 7

Nines woke to Gavin speaking on the phone to someone. He paced the room, and Nines could easily tell he was frustrated. “Captain, he got shot six fucking times in the chest. You wouldn’t expect any other officer to just jump up and get back to work after that.” A pause. “Yeah, well, he may be a robot but he still needs time to heal.” Gavin was arguing for Nines, even if Gavin was right, it could risk his job. And Gavin was doing it to defend him. “Look, can you just keep an eye on the church? We’re heading home tonight and we’ll handle it tomorrow morning. No, I don’t want Connor and Hank or anyone else to take care of it. Nines and I have been on this since the beginning. It’s  _ our _ case.” 

Gavin ran his hand through his hair, and for a moment he recalled the feeling of Nines running his hand through Gavin’s hair, the detective smiled slightly at the memory. “Look, right now we can really only arrest him for harming an officer and drug possession. Nothing for the murder of these androids. We know where he is, and we could go in now, or we can wait it out. If we wait it out we can give him a false sense of security and make him feel like he got away.” As Gavin listened to Fowler he finally noticed Nines was awake and staring at him. “Fowler, he’s awake. I have to go.” Gavin spared another glance to Nines as he let Fowler speak. “Yeah, I’ll tell him. Bye.”

Gavin hung up the phone and sat on a stool next to Nines' bed, immediately taking Nines' hand in his, rubbing the pad of this thumb soothingly against the back of Nines' hand. A full night had passed since Kamski had repaired Nines, and Nines had gone back to sleep for the whole night, Gavin slouching into the stool beside him. It was uncomfortable, but he still slept fine with Nines' hand in his until Fowler had woken him with that call. It was now Wednesday morning and Nines seemed to be doing better. 

“Here,” Gavin said, handing Nines a bottle full of thirium. “Kamski wanted you to refill a bit when you woke up.”

Nines took the glass and chugged it. “Fowler wants us to investigate,” Nines said after he had finished, more a statement than a question.

Gavin nodded. “I can’t believe him. You were just fucking shot. You aren’t even healed completely and yet he wants you to jump back into the field right away.” And it was true. The wounds had started to close by themselves but it would still be a few hours, as the wound on his arm had been much less serious so it healed quicker. Kamski put some kind of gel on his wounds to help them along but it would still be a while. “But don’t worry, he wishes you a quick recovery,” Gavin said sarcastically, mocking Fowler’s tone. “I’m right though, it’s better to wait. We need more than just a few charges. This guy won’t confess to killing those androids and we can’t really prove it was him besides that one voice clip. We need more.”

“You’re right,” Nines agreed, but he found himself not wanting to talk about the case. Which was strange, he was supposed to only care about the mission. That’s what he was designed for. “How are you? Have you spoken to your brother at all?” He found himself asking.

“Yeah,” Gavin sighed. “While you were still out. He said… he said that he never told my parents about Noah, that they found out themselves. He never even knew why I hated him all these years. To be honest, I feel so fucking childish for ignoring his existence these past fifteen years now that I know he didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t his fault he’s a genius, he was just doing what he loved.” Gavin ran his hands through his hair. “And he said he loved me, and he wanted my forgiveness still. I don’t know, I was too worried about you to focus on my brother.”

“That doesn’t make your feelings invalid. Maybe you were wrong about him, yes, but if Kamski’s giving you a chance then maybe you should take it. Give yourself a chance to make up for fifteen years.”

Gavin thought about it, perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea, but his hands shook with the idea of being completely alone with his brother. He didn’t know how to act, and knowing himself he knew that he could say one bad thing and fuck it up forever. “I don’t know… I don’t want to do it alone.”

“What makes you think you could keep me away?” Nines said, head tilted to the side in that wolf-like way.

Gavin smiled at his friend, glad to see he was getting back to his old cocky self. “How are  _ you _ feeling?” Gavin asked, wanting to change the subject. He could worry about his brother later. After Nines was fully healed.

“A little bit of pain. Not too bad I suppose. Doesn’t hurt nearly as much as when I actually got hit.” Nines looked at his and Gavin’s joined hands. “I could turn the pain sensors off, but I kind of like them on. It makes me feel more… alive.”

“Even if you’d turned them off you’d still be just as alive to me just as anyone else is,” Gavin said not a heartbeat later. Nines' artificial heart thundered in his chest. That warm feeling, it was there again. It made him feel more alive than any pain could.

“I think… you make me feel more alive,” Nines said. Gavin swallowed, he had the urge to do something. He wanted to have more contact than just holding hands. He found himself wanting to kiss the android that looked so much like Connor that it sometimes freaked him out, but Nines was entirely different because it was  _ Nines _ . Gavin shoved that thought away, he  _ had  _ to. He knew the android didn’t want him back, they seemed way too far in the friend zone. 

That was fine, he liked being Nines' friend. At least he wasn’t trying to deny that Nines was his friend anymore. But then why did Gavin still crave for so much more? He had to put an end to this stupid crush of his. 

  
  


“Here’s some extra thirium, drink it until your full,” Kamski said as they stood in the entryway of his home, next to the large framed picture of himself. He handed them a backpack full of packets of the blue liquid, and Gavin slung it over his shoulder.

Gavin turned to leave, nodding his thanks to his brother but Kamski spoke, stopping Gavin in his tracks. “Gavin, I want to get to know you. I know Mom and Dad don’t have a chance anymore, but I won't let mine go to waste.”

Gavin turned slowly to his brother, meeting Nines' eyes as he turned. Nines nodded in encouragement. “We can probably go out to lunch, or something. After this case.” Kamski nodded but Gavin found himself adding. “Nines will be joining us, of course.”

Kamski nodded again, “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I would like to get to know you both. I’ll call you soon.”

Gavin nodded and turned away, leading Nines out of the house. “Thanks, Eli,” He said over his shoulder. Elijah only nodded and closed the door behind them. The sun was beginning to set as they drove the long way back to Detroit. Mostly in silence. Gavin’s music played in the background as the two made mindless chatter every now and then. The two finally made it to Gavin’s apartment around six in the evening. 

Gavin made himself a grilled cheese after giving Nines some clothes to change into. He was glad to finally be home again. Elijah’s place was too clean and too modern. He liked his apartment, even if it was small. After a few minutes, the android emerged from the bedroom in the same pajama pants from a couple nights ago, and a plain white t-shirt that was a little too tight on him. Gavin realized they’d have to get Nines more clothes, ones that actually fit him. They both sat on the couch together and Gavin turned on the TV, though he wasn’t really paying attention. He ate all of his sandwich, swallowed a few mouthfuls of coffee, then turned to face Nines.

“How are you feeling?” Gavin asked.

“The pain is pretty much gone, just a slight ache. I think my skin has closed up too.” Gavin expected to be creeped out by the fact that Nines' skin could just close on its own, but Gavin found himself curious about it. 

“Can I see?” Gavin asked tentatively.

Nines nodded and lifted up his shirt, and Gavin laid his hand gently on Nines' chest. There wasn’t any scars, just a small bump located above his stomach in one of the places where he had been hit. That wound had been the worst one because that was where he had been shot head-on. Gavin would never have even known that he had only gotten shot only a day ago if he hadn’t watched it happen himself. Gavin could feel the thirium pump beating steadily in Nines' chest, and it seemed to quicken its pace as he looked up and met Nines' eyes.

Nines knew what kissing was. He’d seen it in movies he’d watched with Gavin and Connor. He knew what it was, but the process had seemed so unfamiliar and unnecessary to him. But he found his gaze drifting down to Gavin’s lips, and he wondered what it would be like to kiss Gavin. Gavin seemed to have soft lips, and he wondered how they would taste. He wondered how the man would react if he tugged on Gavin’s bottom lip with his teeth. 

Nines was still learning what wanting something meant, but he knew that he wanted Gavin’s lips on his. 

Right  _ now _ .

When Nines leaned forward, he expected the man to pull away, but Gavin stayed right where he was. He felt Gavin’s hand drift from his stomach to his side, his calloused fingers dancing across Nines' skin. Nines tilted his head to the side, leaning forward until his lips brushed against Gavin’s. Gavin didn’t react, and Nines pulled away, preparing an apology. Nines didn’t expect Gavin to surge forward and capture Nines' lips again. 

Gavin had hated androids since Elijah had started to create them in their basement. He had hated them all, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate the one sitting in front of him. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t hate Nines. And here he was, kissing the android like it was how he breathed, like it was what he actually needed to breathe all this time and now he couldn’t go back to normal air. He didn’t even care that he was kissing an android. He cared that it was Nines he was kissing. He expected Nines' lips to be hard and cold. He didn’t expect them to feel so soft and warm and so much like a human’s lips. And he found himself not ever wanting to kiss someone else because they would never give him the same feeling that Nines was giving him now. He didn’t expect to feel himself wanting more with every single brush of Nines' lips against his. 

This was Nines, his wonderfully annoying partner. Nines, his dumbass friend that stupidly jumped in front of bullets to save him. Nines, who had almost  _ died _ trying to save him. Nines, who knew the deepest, darkest part of him and liked him anyway. Nines, who was a really fucking good kisser. 

Nines soon understood why kissing was a popular thing.

Gavin pulled Nines closer to him, reveling in the feel of the android’s warm skin against the palm of his hand. He tried to convey what he was feeling into his kisses, even if he wasn’t quite sure what it was that he was feeling. He just knew that he needed Nines around him like he needed to breathe. That scared the shit out of Gavin, but he thrived off it, kissed Nines deeper because of that fear. 

Gavin had never been one for kissing, he liked to just get down to business. He didn’t like the idea of spit swapping back and forth and dripping down chins. With Nines, he wanted more.  _ More _ , was all he could think when the android slipped his hands into Gavin’s hair and kissing him deeply. A quiet moan fell from Gavin’s lips when Nines tugged slightly on the strands of his hair. Nines smirked, he quite liked that sound.

Nines dipped his tongue into the detective’s mouth, intrigued by the tastes he found there. He could detect coffee, the nicotine from a cigarette. There was the warm feeling inside his stomach from before as Gavin pulled Nines closer to him. But that warmth was more intense than before, it was now a raging fire building inside him. When the detective’s hands roamed over his stomach and sides, he wondered how it was possible to _feel_ _so much_ in a simple touch. 

Gavin made him feel alive. Connor had woken Nines up, yes, but he didn’t know what it was like to truly be  _ awake _ until now. He felt like he was waking up with every kiss, every touch the human laid on him. Nines craved that feeling, he chased after it. 

Gavin knew he should pull away, he knew that was what he should do. But when Nines' lips touched his it sparked a fire in him that he didn’t even know was there anymore. He knew he had to pull away, so why was he leaning even closer into the kiss? Why was he allowing the android to lean him back against the couch so their bodies pressed together, so their legs tangled? Christ, he felt the hardness of Nines against his thigh, the android wasn’t lying when he said he had been upgraded. Quite a large upgrade, too. He couldn’t pull away, not now, not when he’d been wanting this for what felt like years. 

“ _ Fuck _ ,” He gasped into Nines' mouth as Nines experimentally rolled against him. 

“Is something wrong, Detective Reed?” Gavin could hear the egotistical smirk on his lips, he knew it was there. 

He tried to respond, but Nines leaned down the press kisses against the base of his throat, rendering his vocal cords useless. Where the fuck had he learned to do this shit? Nines rutted against him again, and Gavin could feel the desire burning through his stomach. He bit his lip to hold back the moan that was threatening to slip and instead pulled the android back to his lips. He hadn’t wanted anyone this much in years. And a part of him wanted to take the android into his room, or better yet, just fuck him on this couch. But they had troublesome things to worry about that were more important than getting fucked. 

“ _ Shit _ , Nines.” Gavin groaned and finally pulled away from the android. He missed the feeling of Nines' lips against his as soon as it was gone, but he swallowed and looked into Nines' eyes, he had to stop it now or he wouldn’t be able to stop it later. “Nines, we need to stop.”

Nines knew Gavin was right, but at the same time, he wasn’t quite done with the detective yet. “You’re right…” He admitted, even as he leaned forward to kiss the detective’s collarbone. 

Gavin sucked in a breath and tried not to focus on the lips placing kisses on the sensitive part of his neck. “We still have a case, and as badly as I want to, we shouldn’t...” Gavin said out of breath, and he struggled to calm down when all he wanted to do was pull Nines closer. “We shouldn’t be so distracted and lose sleep right now, especially when you’re still healing.”

“You’re right,” Nines said again, sitting up and pulling away from Gavin. He missed the feeling of Gavin’s body against his, so close but too many layers between them. “To be continued,” Nines purred and watched as Gavin shivered and stared him with dilated eyes.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Gavin said, rising from the couch and walking into the bathroom. When Gavin emerged several minutes later, he was towel drying his hair and his shirtless body shivering slightly. A cold shower then. 

Nines took the moment to appreciate Gavin’s body for the first time. He’d already felt it with his hands and with his body, but looking at it stirred that feeling in his gut again. He looked away before he got aroused again. He could control it if he wanted, but he had a feeling it’d be very hard to control with Gavin next to him.

Gavin sighed, looking at the android on his couch, his hair perfectly ruffled. Gavin still wanted him despite the cold shower and wondered if it would be a good idea if they slept next to each other. “Are we going to sleep in the same bed again? It could lead to other things than just sleep.”

“I _ can _ control myself, believe it or not,” Nines smirked, tilting his head. Gavin tried to ignore it. What the fuck was he doing with Nines? He had just recently accepted him as his friend, and while the feeling of attraction had always been there, he’d never meant to act on it. It seemed like such a quick jump when it had only been a week. Then again, Gavin had always been impulsive. But the short time frame didn’t take away how it felt so right, it didn’t take away the breath of life Nines had breathed into him with each kiss. 

Nines could see the human was still conflicted, it was obvious in the way he ran his hands through his hair. Nines sighed, “You sleep better when you’re next to me. We’ve done it for the past three nights, there’s no reason to stop now. Nothing will happen.”

Gavin nodded and headed into the bedroom, the android not far behind him. Gavin settled on the bed, switching the light off as Nines took off his tight shirt and slid under the covers next to him. Gavin was close enough to feel his body heat and he craved to be closer, but he couldn’t. So when the android had closed his eyes, Gavin started to shift his body to the edge of the bed. 

Nines noticed immediately when Gavin starts to inch further away from him. While Nines' eyes were closed, he could still feel Gavin moving on the bed. Nines scoffed, turning to the side and pulling the human to his chest, spooning him and wrapping his arms around the human’s waist and burying his head into Gavin’s soft and slightly damp hair. Gavin sighed but leaned his back into Nines' embrace, legs and arms tangling together so effortlessly. The android was so warm and the arms around him were so comforting that he fell quickly into a dreamless sleep.

  
  


Gavin woke to his blaring alarm, and for once he wasn’t restless to stop it. He just wanted to fold himself into the warm arms around him. He was glad that Nines hadn’t let Gavin move away from him while they were sleeping, it might’ve made things more awkward. Now Gavin couldn’t give a shit, he just found himself wanting to kiss the android in front of him again and again. 

Trouble. This was going to bring a lot of trouble. 

Gavin untangled himself from Nines' arms and turned off the alarm. He stretched. Nines opened his eyes and didn’t stop himself from watching Gavin stretch, he didn’t stop himself from raking his eyes over the human’s body. He already missed the feel of Gavin’s body enveloped in his, he missed the warmth. 

He wanted to stop Gavin from rising from the bed, he wanted to pull Gavin back to him and kiss him until his lips were raw and the human was writhing against him. He instead just watched him leave the bedroom and make his way to the kitchen.

Gavin couldn’t stop thinking about how much trouble this was going to cause. He raked his hands through his hair, immediately alerting the android that Gavin was worried about something. Nines furrowed his brows and leaned against the wall of the small kitchen with his arms crossed against his chest. 

“Do you think what we did was a mistake?” Nines asked from behind him. Gavin turned to face him, taking in the attractive face of his friend, his hair all messed up but still perfect. He had to force himself to stay looking at Nines' face and not drift his gaze down to the toned stomach of the android, to fixate on the unique spread of freckles Nines had. 

“No!” He protested immediately but sighed. “I don’t know… maybe?”

“Because I’m an android,” Nines muttered, thinking that was the reason Gavin didn’t want to be with him. Because he was an android, he wasn’t really alive. No matter what Gavin had said to him at Kamski’s house.

“No. Fuck no. We’re partners.” Gavin’s voice had Nines lifting his head to stare into his gray eyes. Was it really not because he wasn’t human? Nines had a hard time believing it. “Partners aren’t supposed to be involved with each other. If Fowler catches us or finds out we won’t be working together anymore. I don’t want someone else, you’re the only one I can actually stand to be around.” The look in Gavin’s eyes told Nines that he was telling the truth before Nines' programming could. That was all Nines needed, so he took a few steps closer to the human, the warmth in his stomach already burning into a fire. 

“Then we’ll keep it a secret.”

“Nines, it won’t be easy.”  
“I know it won’t.” Nines took a step closer to Gavin, “But I want to be your partner and I also want to keep kissing you.” Nines raked his eyes down Gavin’s shirtless body, taking in the short brown hair on his stomach that trailed down, leading to promising places. “And other things…” Nines purred.

He could see the ice forming in the gray eyes of his partner, and for a moment Nines wondered if he’d gone a bit too far. Actually, now that Nines looked, that wasn’t ice. Gavin’s eyes were filled with subtle want. Nines liked that, he liked that the detective seems to want him his as much as he wanted Gavin. He took another few steps forward until he was towering over the human. 

Nines raised his hand to caress Gavin’s cheek, smirking as Gavin involuntarily leaned into his touch. Nines ducked his head down, moving to kiss the lips he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about, his hands moving to the body he couldn’t keep himself from staring at.  

Nines moved closer to him until Gavin’s back was pressed against the edge of the counter, digging into his back painfully. Gavin didn’t mind that pain at all, not when Nines' warm hands traced over his sides, ran through his hair. Gavin wrapped his arms around Nines' waist, pulling him closer. He almost lost his mind when the android took Gavin’s bottom lip and tugged it with his teeth and he let out a shuddering breath. 

Satisfied with the human’s response towards him, Nines pulled away and took a step back. Gavin almost whined at the lost of Nines' touch but held it in. Nines raked his eyes over Gavin. Gavin was breathing hard, lips red and hair all messed up. His face and body were flushed red. Nines took a picture so he would remember it forever.

“We need to leave soon,” Nines said, taking one last look at Gavin.  _ Later _ , Nines chided himself.  _ They would have to continue later. _

“Fucking tease,” Gavin muttered, but he smiled at Nines all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this was my favorite chapter to write, I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did.
> 
> I'll see you guys again Sunday for chapter eight


	8. Chapter 8

They walked quietly down the hallway leading to the back room, the front room of the church had been completely deserted. The stained glass windows were broken and pews were toppled over. Heavy storm clouds muzzled the sunlight, making it seem like it was the middle of the night. The roof was caved in, the heavy rain pounding down and flooding the floor. But then Nines could hear it, he could hear the whipping from the room around the corner. He shared a glance with Gavin, and he could tell Gavin heard it too. Even though the storm was pounding around them outside, they could hear each swing like a separate crack of thunder.

They had given Nines a gun and a vest before the partners made their way inside the church, Gavin had insisted on it. Gavin didn’t want anyone to come in with them, too many people would alert Aaron that they were coming. But Fowler insisted on at least having a team ready to come in in case things went wrong. Nines brought his gun out now, clicking the safety off as he followed Gavin down the dark hall leading to the recreation room. Their footsteps made quiet splashing sounds against the puddles on the floor, but they moved carefully, quietly. 

Nines made sure his eyes were recording before following Gavin down the hallway, the sound of hard leather slashing against skin only getting louder. Nines could see the small bit of fear in Gavin’s eyes. He could’ve easily detected it by analyzing the detective in a split second, but he had promised not to do that. Even so, he makes it out easily in Gavin’s gray eyes. But Gavin’s hands were still steady as they rounded the corner, inching toward the large room. Nines could see clearly now. Another android, a female WR-400, hung suspended from the center of the room. Nines for a moment thought maybe they could save her, but then he noticed her dead LED on her temple. She had already shut down, but Aaron kept hurting her. 

Gavin steps forward. “Freeze, Detroit Police! Drop the weapon and get on your knees, keep your arms raised and your hands seen at all times.”

It was almost too easy to catch him. Gavin should’ve known there was someone else when Aaron smirked at them, dropping the whip on the floor and lowering himself to the ground. Nines headed over to cuff the man, and Gavin took a few steps towards a room that he could see was the kitchen. He should’ve known something was going to go wrong. 

He spotted the other man come through the kitchen door a second too late.

Three bullets hit him, one hit the padding of his vest, knocking the wind out of him. He clutched his stomach as he fell to the ground, gasping for breath. The other two hit his exposed left arm as he fell to his knees and elbows, missing their intended location of his head. He groaned in pain as he fell to the floor, face splashing into a puddle. He could tell one of the bullets hit an artery, red blood already splattered the ground in front of him mixing in with the rain water, disturbingly reminding him of his brother’s swimming pool. He would bleed out soon. He was going to die. That thought bothered him more than it should have, he found himself not wanting to leave anyone behind.  _ Nines _ .  _ Nines would get hurt if he didn’t do anything. _ In a surge of strength, he rolled over in a kneeling position, grabbing his gun and shooting the other man in the gut. He would be in too much pain to do anything else, but the fucker would live. Gavin wasn’t quite sure he would, he didn’t know if an ambulance could get here in time. There was a ringing in his ears, he could barely hear the thunder outside. He could feel the darkness gripping onto him. He fell back against the floor, Nines rushing towards him. The last thing he saw was a pair of worried blue eyes.

Death was quite comforting. He could feel it, grasping at him, trying to pull him into its arms. He could feel the joy and light of Noah in that swarm of darkness and death. He wanted to run into Noah’s arms, he could almost remember his blinding smile and soft blond hair.

Then he remembered cold blue eyes, he remembered the warmth of his arms, safe and secure. Those arms seemed more comforting than death. But what was the name of the owner of those arms? It was on the tip of his tongue, but the name seemed to be so far away from him. 

Gavin had felt so numb for so long, he’d been numb since the moment Noah had left him and he realized his parents truly didn’t care about him. Nothing really mattered anymore, nothing except work and working his way up to being Captain, maybe even more. But all those years he was just going through the motions. Every day he would come home to a cold empty apartment and couldn’t even bring himself to care, he felt like he was sleepwalking. And as soon as he met that person with those pretty blue eyes he felt like he was finally living again. 

_ Nines _ , he realized. Nines was the one who made him feel awake again, Nines made him happy. He wanted  _ his _ arms around him now. 

Gavin had someone to come home to now. No, it was more than that. He didn’t care if it was his boring apartment or a dirty box on the street. He realized that if Nines was waiting for him there, that place would be home to him. 

Death could go fuck off. Not today. 

He wanted to go home.

So even as death’s arms tugged at him, pulling at him to stay. He was determined. He trashed and kicked and bucked against the strangling arms, he wanted to reach the light. The light that's blinding him, the light that reminded him of Nines' eyes.

  
  


Nines swore his heart had stopped beating when he saw Gavin crash to the ground, it’s been hours, but he could still feel it. He could still hear the gunshots ringing out, Gavin’s groan of pain. He could feel the moment he saw Gavin falling, he could feel the terror building inside of him that all he could do was run towards him. He stared at Gavin’s body now, listened to the steady beeping of the heart monitor, the only sign that the man in front of him was still alive. 

Where was that fight, that determination that Nines had always admired now? 

Nines refused to leave Gavin’s side, even when the nurses said visiting hours were over, all Nines had to do was glare at them and they left him alone. The doctor had told him that sometimes it took awhile for someone to wake up after such a traumatizing experience. But she didn’t know Gavin like Nines did. He knew that any second now Gavin would open his eyes. Even as those seconds blurred into hours, and those into days. He slept only when his programming begged him too, but only managing to for about an hour. He found himself not wanting to sleep without Gavin wrapped in his arms.

Connor sat with him through it all, dutifully sitting beside him in an uncomfortable plastic chair.

“He was always an asshole to me,” Connor said, after the third hour and twenty-seventh minute of Gavin’s coma after surgery. “I never really said anything back. I just stood there and was as polite and robotic as always. You though… you told him off. I think that’s why he liked you so much, you’re the only one that bothered to fight him back.”

“Don’t speak of him in the past tense.” Was all Nines said, lips pressed into a hard line.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. He’s going to wake up.” 

They sat in silence for two more hours, Nines didn’t look away from Gavin once. He didn’t even say hello as Lieutenant Anderson stopped by to drop something off for Connor. He knew it was rude, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from Gavin’s body. He had to make sure his chest was still rising and falling, that his heart was still beating. 

“I have some clothes for you, I think you’ll like these shirts I have picked out. The one you’re wearing right now doesn’t fit all that well. I have some jeans too.” Nines shook his head, this shirt was Gavin’s. It still smelled like coffee and cigarettes; it smelled like Gavin. He pressed his lips together, trying to hold back the tears that made him feel so weak. 

“This is fine.”

“Nines, your covered in his blood. Please, just change.” Nines knew he was right, but he didn’t want to leave Gavin’s side. He knew he was completely covered in blood, Gavin’s blood. His hands had been stained with his blood, and although he’d washed them he could still feel it sometimes. But if Gavin woke up while he was gone… “What if I go in the hall and you just change in here?”

Nines nodded, he could see Connor rummaging in the bag and pulled out a dark blue sweater and a black pair of jeans just like the one he was wearing now. Connor handed him the clothes and left the room, mumbling something to Hank who must have been waiting outside. Nines changed into the sweater, which turned out to be a turtleneck, and the jeans quickly. He left the clothes on the floor, he pulled the plastic chair closer to the bed and sat down in it. He took Gavin’s hand in his, threading their fingers together in a perfect fit. He begged Gavin silently to just open his eyes, squeeze his hand, twitch, or just do something to show Nines that he was still in there. 

He heard Connor come in a few minutes later and pick up the discarded clothes and handed them to someone in the hall. “...Just see if you can get the blood out.” He heard a muffled grumble on the other side of the door that he knew was Hank. “Yeah, I’m fine here. I’ll take care of him. I mean, he’s always been kind of quiet but not like this.” Another grumble from Hank. “Yeah, I’ll call you. Thank you. And hey...I love you.”

Nines heard the door close and the scrape of Connor’s chair being pulled forward to be closer to Nines. Connor finally noticed Nines and Gavin’s hands intertwined together, and that didn’t shock him. What really shocked him was how Nines' skin had pulled back to reveal the silicone underneath, and how it now held Gavin’s human hand. It was the most intimate way you could touch someone to an android, as it was how androids connected. And Nines was holding Gavin’s hand so tightly, like he needed Gavin’s touch to keep himself stable. 

“What was going on between you two?” Connor asked.

Nines thought for a moment, how could he describe it? “I don’t know…” he sighed, he almost told him about their sleeping arrangements but he wanted to keep that private between him and Gavin, at least for now. “We’ve kissed a couple of times, but it’s always felt like more than a kiss.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like I didn’t know what the hell I was doing before, and why hadn’t we been doing this the whole time? When we were kissing, I couldn’t think about anything else except him, I couldn’t even think about the case. It felt right. And it made me finally feel alive.” Nines reached over and ran his hands through Gavin’s hair, the human gave no response. “And now he’s dying.”

“He’s going to live,” Connor assured him. 

And Nines wanted to believe him. But it was hard as he watched Gavin’s probability of survival rate drop lower and lower with each hour that passed. 

  
  


It had been seventeen hours and fifty-three minutes since Gavin had been in a coma now, Nines was still there. He still refused to move. He wanted to read. He desperately wanted to finish East of Eden, because it was one of Gavin’s favorite books. But he couldn’t stand to look away from Gavin for more than a few moments. If he finished it and Gavin wasn’t there to talk to him about it, was it even worth it?

They’d taken out Gavin’s breathing tube a little while ago, Doctor Perrin said that was a good thing. Gavin was breathing on his own now. Nines didn’t know what to think, he couldn’t think. But Gavin’s body looked better when a tube wasn’t shoved down his throat, it was easier for Nines to pretend that he was just sleeping. Even so, Nines' heart thundered in his chest. He’d promised to never analyze Gavin, but he couldn’t stop his programming from assessing Gavin’s body and estimating his probability of survival. Even though the number scared the shit out of Nines, it let him know that statistically speaking, there was always a chance for unlikely events to take place. And even though his detective laid unconscious beside him, Nines felt an indescribable warmth in his chest. It reminded him of when the warmth he felt when Gavin had told him that Nines was alive to him. The warmth he felt when he kissed Gavin. The warmth he felt when he had held Gavin in his arms as the human slept, their fingers intertwined. Nines was still new to being awake, he was bad at describing emotions, he’d barely felt them until Gavin had come into his life. But this warmth, it made Nines feel so alive but scared him at the same time. And he didn’t even know what it was. 

“Connor,” Nines started, still looking at Gavin. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“I have this warm feeling in my stomach. Always when I’m around Gavin, even now. It grows stronger whenever I’ve made him smile or laugh. It still feels strong now, even though I’m worried that Gavin will never open his eyes again. Even though I’m worried I might never hear him call me a dumbass again. Even though my calculations tell me he has a sixty-eight percent chance of survival, the number keeps dropping, and I’m scared. I’m scared of that thirty-two percent. I’m scared that I’ll never see him smile again.” Nines took a deep breath, he didn’t want to cry. “I’m not so familiar with naming emotions yet, and I would like to see if knew what it was that I am feeling.”

“I think,” Connor began, turning in his chair to face Nines, not at all surprised when Nines didn’t bother to move his gaze away from the detective. “I think the feeling is something like love. Not really true love, though. When that happens you’ll know. You’ll feel it with every beat of your heart. But the beginning parts of love, it’s when you’re starting to fall for them, when you realize that you could fall in love with them and not mind a bit. I think, Nines, that that is what you’re starting to feel for Detective Reed.”

“...Love?” Nines asked, not quite believing he heard it right.

“Love.” Connor confirmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes


	9. Chapter 9

It’s Saturday night when Connor has to go, thirty-six hours and twelve minutes into Gavin’s coma. “Hank tells me that the dogs are going crazy without me, he can’t take care of all of them by himself anymore. I’m just going to pop by my apartment but I’ll be back to visit you tomorrow morning.” Nines only nodded, he understood. He hadn’t expected Connor to be here so long, he’d expected that he would’ve left yesterday. But Connor always surprised him.

He’d been alone for hours now, but it only felt like minutes. Nines soon finds himself moving his gaze to the window behind him. The stars are so bright and they mesmerize him sometimes. He could go and name all of them, he realized, but he couldn’t find a reason to, he had no one to name them for. 

Connor checked on him that morning but had left again that afternoon, mumbling about a case he had to finish, Nines wasn’t really listening. But that was fine. He liked being alone anyways. He liked the silence. It was easier for him to hear Gavin’s breathing that way. 

Nines found himself replaying moments in his mind like an old movie reel. He remembered the kindness in Gavin’s eyes when he talked to the families of those abused androids. He remembered that night in the car, Gavin hunched over and unable to meet Nines' eyes as he told him about Noah, dried blood on his knuckles from punching the brick wall. He remembered how when they were driving Gavin would sometimes just look over at him and smile. He remembered the way Gavin liked his coffee, with two sugars and nothing else. He remembered the way Gavin read, curled up on the other side of the couch one his hands propping up his face and feet laying on the coffee table. He remembered the way Gavin looked when Nines woke up after having to shut himself down. He looked tired as shit, but pure happiness and joy were in his eyes, a relieved smile on his face. He remembered the way Gavin subconsciously lip synced to his favorite songs. He remembered the way Gavin looked after their first kiss, a blush on his cheeks and his gray eyes dilated, looking at Nines like he was the only person that existed. He remembered the way Gavin looked, sleeping in Nines' arms, their fingers intertwined. He remembered how Gavin looked rising to his knees to shoot the other assailant, then falling back to ground. He remembered the way Gavin looked as he bled out, cold and almost lifeless in Nines' arms as his gray eyes flickered closed. 

Nines looked back to his unconscious partner, begging him to open his eyes. He looked back to the window, the stars were still bright, even though it was early Sunday morning and Nines knew the sun would rise and they would fade soon. It reminded him of that night in Gavin’s car, the stars were so bright then too. It was when everything had begun to change for them. It was when Nines realized the world was more than just black and white. Gavin wasn’t just an asshole with a caffeine addiction and a hatred for androids. 

Gavin was the reason Nines knew what love was. 

Nines didn’t know what he would be doing, or who he would be if he had never decided to work at the DPD or if he had been assigned to someone else. He figured he would still be that dull robot that only cared about the case.

He’d been serious at Kamski’s house, after he’d been shot protecting Gavin. He’d do it again. And again and again and again. Nines knew he wasn’t invincible, but he also knew that neither was Gavin. And if Nines had just been a little faster, a little smarter, he would’ve stopped Gavin from getting hurt. 

A million thoughts ran through Nines' mind, all with one main idea; Gavin. 

Nines took a deep breath, forcing his eyes to focus again. His vision cleared and the stars came into vision again. Nines slumped in his seat, the stars were nothing to him. It all meant nothing to him, if Gavin wasn’t there with him. He finally noticed the warnings in the corner of his vision. He hadn’t slept in days and his program was very helpful in alerting him that he needed to soon or he wouldn’t be as efficient. Nines scoffed, efficient at doing what? Watching his partner die? Yeah, he was really good at that already. Nines closed his eyes, trying not to think about the way Gavin looked curled up in Nines' arms as he slept. 

“I’ve always liked the stars.” Nines whipped his head around, eyes wide in shock, turning to see Gavin’s eyes open. Finally open. Gavin’s voice was hoarse, but he continued to speak, a familiar smirk on his lips. “I find it fascinating how they shine so brightly to us but they’re so many light years away from us that they could already be dead, we just don’t know it yet.”

“Gavin…” Nines breathed, never taking his eyes off of Gavin’s. 

“Hey,” Gavin said weakly, his smirk fading into a fond smile, the smile that had been playing in Nines' head for hours now.

Nines grabbed the pitcher of water and an empty plastic cup, filling the cup to the brim. “Here, drink.” Gavin coughed a little but sipped the water gratefully. “I understand what you felt now, back when I got shot. I understand the overwhelming worry now.” Nines clenched the edge of the bed, gripping so tightly his knuckles turned white. 

Gavin set the glass of water on the nearby table, and carefully pried Nines' fingers away with his hand and held Nines' hand in his. Nines sighed with relief, he had really missed that feeling. “I’m alright, Nines. I’ll be just fine. A couple of bullets in the arm won’t kill me that easily.”

“The bullet hit your brachial artery. You would have bled out if the ambulance had gotten there a minute later or if I hadn’t put my finger in the vein to stop the blood flow.”

“Nines, I’m fine. I made it.”

“I had to stick my finger inside your arm. I could feel your pulse, your heartbeat, I could  _ feel  _ it giving out. I could see how pale you were and feel how cold your body was. It’s one thing to analyze it but I could actually feel you dying. I watched as your probability of survival lowered with each second that passed.”

“Nines…” Nines' LED flashes red as he clutched onto Gavin’s hand, not meeting his eyes.

“You almost weren't fucking fine. You hemorrhaged, you had ischemia, a hematoma. It’s amazing you don’t have nerve damage. You weren’t alright. You were in surgery for seven hours and I spent every second out in the hall, waiting for them to just tell me that you died. And then you spent forty-four hours in a coma. I have been here every second, just waiting for you to open your eyes. And you just tell me you’re fine?” Nines' voice cracked, and the tears started to finally fall after spending fifty-one hours holding them in.

“Nines, please calm down.”

But Nines continued, he had to get it out. He’d spent fifty-one hours barely speaking at all. “Even after they operated there was an eighteen percent chance that you would not make it. That number kept rising each hour you were asleep.” Nines, for once, wished that he could not feel. Seeing his partner, seeing  _ Gavin _ , bleeding out in front of him had traumatized him more than connecting to those tortured androids had.

Gavin noticed the tears falling down Nines' cheeks and could do nothing to stop them. “I made it. I came back to you. I  _ am _ alright now, thanks to you. You saved me again, Nines, I’m going to be alright.”

Nines ran his hand through Gavin’s hair and the detective smiled at him, leaning into his touch. Nines' heart thundered at the smile that only seemed to appear for him. If Gavin had died, Nines never would’ve gotten to know him. Nines knew the deepest parts of him, yes, but he wanted to know the simple things about him too. Every single seemingly insignificant thing there was to him. He wanted to fill in every blank of Gavin’s book. He wanted to know every ugly habit, every annoying pet peeve, every weird tradition. He wanted to know why he had a burn mark on his arm and a scar on his chest. He wanted to know what made him pissed off, what made him smile. Nines wanted to know it all. Because it was Gavin. And everything about Gavin was important to Nines. If things had gone differently… No. Nines pushed that thought away. That wouldn’t happen. Not for a long time. 

Nines would make sure of it. 

With that thought his LED flickered from the calculating yellow to the calm blue.

“Now will you just kiss me already?” Gavin said, that smug smirk on his face. “I’ve been waiting forty-four goddamn hours for my dumbass Prince Charming to wake me up with a kiss. But I guess he got lazy so I had to wake up by myself.”

Nines wrinkled his nose. “That was stupid, don’t say that again.” But leaned forward all the same and kissed Gavin. And only then did Gavin finally feel awake. 

  
  


“It’ll take a little while for you to be able to use your arm as you once did before,” Nines said after noticing Gavin picking at the bandages around his left arm. They’d been at the hospital for five days now, the two finding a way to sleep next to each other on the small bed each night, no matter what the nurses said. They were always careful about Gavin’s arm. But the time had come for them to check out. Gavin sat on the edge of the bed, watching Nines pack up what little things Gavin had. Extra clothes, a teddy bear from Connor and a card from Hank. He had a feeling Connor made Hank get it, but it was still nice. He also had a voicemail from Fowler, and it was only telling him to take as much time off as he needed. Gavin had called Eli the day he woke up, they were scheduled to have lunch together in two days, all three of them, including the blonde android that Gavin had shoved aside the day Conan got hurt. “I’ll make sure you do the home exercises correctly and that you go to the rehabilitation center on time.”

“Thanks. I want you there with me,” Gavin said, smiling at the android he’d become so fond of.

“I’d love to be there.”

“So… what ever happened to Aaron Wells and that other guy?” Gavin hadn’t managed to bring up the case before. He and Nines had been in their own little world, the outside world not really bothering them. He hadn’t even called Fowler back yet. But they were leaving, and Gavin had to know now. He didn’t know what happened after he’d passed out.

“The other was Brandon Johansson, a close friend of Aaron’s. I managed to record a clip of Aaron abusing the android, so we had that over him. That’s what led him to confess to killing the other three androids. Brandon’s in the hospital, but in custody. He was confessing and pleading for mercy five seconds after Connor walked in there.”

“Connor?” Gavin groaned. “Why couldn’t we do it?”

“Fowler couldn’t wait the three months you have off to interrogate them, he couldn’t even wait the five days that you had to be in the hospital. You just woke up from a coma, Gavin, maybe wait a second before heading straight back into work. Hank and Connor had it under control.”

Gavin nodded, he’d just wished he’d been able to do it himself. “Do I really have to be in a wheelchair? My arm is fucked, not my legs.”

“It’s hospital policy. Stop whining and sit down.”

“Fine,” Gavin settled down in the chair, Nines pushing him effortlessly out of his room and down the hallway. “What about the android girl? Was she alright?”

Nines sighed, “She’d already shut down by the time we got there. We couldn’t save her.”

They sat in a comfortable silence as they rode the elevator, Gavin’s head was killing him and the painkillers they were having him take didn’t do much to help him.

“Fuck, my head hurts. I fucking miss coffee.” He said as Nines wheeled through the semi-busy lobby of the hospital.

“Doctor Perrin said you can’t have anything for another week and a half. It’s safer. And no cigarettes. Which is good, because I was planning on making you quit anyway,” Nines said, helping Gavin out of the wheelchair and handing it off to the nurse.

“And how did you plan to do that?”

“I have my ways,” Nines purred, leaning in close to Gavin’s ear.

Gavin groaned. “Fuck, don’t pull that shit on me. Not when I can’t even use both of my arms to pull you closer.” Nines only chuckled and smiled sweetly at that, as if to say he didn’t know what Gavin was talking about. The two walked through the main doors of the hospital and started to walk the short distance to Gavin’s car. “I hope you know I’m gonna be really grumpy without coffee or cigarettes.”

“You’re already grumpy.” Nines deadpanned.

“Yeah, well, I’m gonna be worse.”

“Somehow, I think I can handle a handicapped caffeine addict.”

“Whatever,” Gavin grumbled, obviously pouting. Nines rolled his eyes and leaned forward to kiss Gavin, loving the immediate smile that Gavin gave him. 

  
  


Nines pulled into the parking lot of Gavin’s apartment building. Gavin started to head for the main door, but he didn’t feel Nines walking behind him. 

“Now that this case is over…” Nines said, stopping in front of Gavin’s car. There wasn’t anyone else in sight, but Nines could make out laughter and music coming from the open windows above. Even though the last few days had been great with the detective, doubt found its way into Nines' mind. “Does this mean you don’t want me in your apartment anymore? At least not until we get another case that’s a difficult as this one was and you need to sleep better.”

Gavin stared blankly at Nines, noticing the LED on Nines' temple was flickering yellow. What was Nines trying to say he was? A goddamn body pillow? Gavin took a few steps toward Nines, the coldness in his blue eyes not worrying him a bit. Besides, it didn’t really seem like coldness in his eyes, they almost seemed scared. Gavin raked his hands through his hair, how was he supposed to describe his feelings for the android? When he passed out, he could’ve chosen to die. He could’ve given up. But he didn’t want to, not when he would be leaving Nines behind. That’s how he knew that this thing between him and Nines was more than a sleeping arrangement. But Nines didn’t know that.

Gavin couldn’t think of anything to say, nothing seemed good enough. So he decided to show Nines. Gavin jerked the taller android down to his height, using the collar of his stupid turtleneck as a handhold. Before Nines could protest or question him Gavin kissed him. 

Nines lost all words when the detective kissed him, they got lost in his throat. Their other kisses had never been quite as gentle as this one, the others were mostly filled with passion and desire. But this one was full of passion too, although a different sort of passion. There was passion and something else too. Nines could feel it in every beat of his heart. 

Gavin released him and stepped back, and he suddenly found the words. “You’re one of the few things that I’m sure of.” Gavin smiled, twirling his apartment keys in his fingers, at smiling at the android whose face for once looked quite breathless and clearly taken aback by Gavin’s actions and words. “Now, let’s go home.”

_ Yes. _ Nines thought as he looked at Gavin, warmth filling his body and his heart.  _ Home. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's kind of the end of this section of the story. I hope you guys loved it as much as I loved writing it. I have written an epilogue, it takes place about two and a half months after chapter nine, but I won't be able to post it until Friday.
> 
> Anyways, thank you all so much for the lovely comments and I'll see you Friday!


	10. Epilogue [NSFW]

Gavin woke to arms around his waist and a warm chest to his back. He had woken up like this every day for the past six weeks and for the past six weeks he’d actually had a normal sleep pattern. He’d, of course, deny that it actually meant a great deal to Gavin that Nines was still there every morning. He’d never mention how it felt to have Nines by his side every morning and then there again every night. 

His arm was feeling much better. He had been keeping up his exercises every day and he could now move it normally. It still shook sometimes when he put too much pressure on it and it aches whenever it rains, but for the most part it was normal. He’d be going back to work the following Monday, and to say the least he was excited to be Nines' partner again.

Gavin rolled over, sliding his hands over Nines' body, tracing his freckles and little moles that he had come to memorize. Nines' eyes opened already deep blue and filled with desire. Gavin had helped Nines take out his LED a couple months ago. At first, Gavin missed it, it was hard to tell what the android was thinking, but he quickly learned to see his unspoken thoughts in Nines' eyes and small facial twitches and expressions. Nines smirked, already leaning in for a kiss Gavin was eager to give him, and Gavin soon forgot about whatever he was thinking about. Gavin had woken up with lust burning in his stomach, Nines could already feel how eager Gavin was against his thigh. 

Morning sex was almost a necessity for Gavin, and if Nines was being honest, he really liked it too. Gavin was really loud when he was still tired and hadn’t really woken up yet. He really liked the noises he could pull from Gavin, just by grazing his teeth against the sensitive area of Gavin’s neck. But he couldn’t help himself, he wanted more. “Gavin,” Nines whispered between kisses. “Do you think perhaps I could be on top this time?”

“What do you mean?” Gavin asked, leaning back as Nines pressed open-mouthed kisses against his neck. 

“I want to know what it would feel like to enter you.”

Gavin felt himself blush, nervous at the idea already, and at Nines' blunt choice of words. He had never done that with anyone before, and just the thought of something that big going inside him made him not really be in the mood for sex anymore. “I...I don’t know. Sorry, just…”

“I would take care of you,” The android said, his brows furrowing as he watched Gavin slowly slide out of Nines' arms. 

“I know. I know you would. Just let me think about it.”

“Alright,” Nines said, deeply unsatisfied for more than one reason as Gavin left their bedroom. Nines had thought it would take some convincing, but he didn’t expect his detective to seem so scared and nervous about it. 

Gavin stepped into the shower, still feeling uneasy. Gavin had never been scared about sex, he almost needed it ever since Nines came into his life. But he’d never been a bottom before. He and Nines had fucked in the living room, the kitchen floor, the shower, even in the archives room at the office when it was really late and almost everyone had gone home. He’d never been shy or nervous about it, especially not with Nines, but now he was. He’d seen the size of Nines' dick, he was big, Gavin had felt all of it with his mouth. It hard to believe that something like that could fit in his ass. He knew Nines would make sure it was good for both of them, but he was just so fucking nervous and uncertain. He wanted to make him happy but he wasn't sure he could do it.

Gavin left the bathroom dressed in his favorite sweatpants and shirt, his everyday outfit these days. He heard Nines scolding Apollo from the kitchen and smiled, remembering the day Nines brought him home.

He’d been really fucking bored and had been for the past two weeks since he’d gotten out of the hospital. He had to stay home while Nines left to help out Connor and Hank with their cases and do small ones on his own. He missed work, and he’d be able to go back in two months, maybe even earlier if his arm healed quickly, but two months still seemed like two years. Nines opened the door to the apartment, shutting it behind him quickly. Nines leaned down for a kiss but moved away all too quickly. 

“I need you to close your eyes for me.”

“The fuck? Why?”

“Just trust me, alright?”

Gavin looked at him, skepticism written all over his face, but closed his eyes all the same. “Fine,” Gavin’s eyes were closed but he could still hear the apartment door open and close again. 

“Alright, open your eyes.” Gavin opened his eyes and turned to look at his partner, his heart almost stopped. Nines was holding a baby german shepherd in his arms. The puppy had mostly black fur but his legs were light brown. It had deep brown eyes and was trying to lick Nines' unamused face. Gavin smiled and leaped up out his seat on the couch to take the puppy into his arms carefully, his arm was still quite sore. 

“Who’s this little guy?” He hadn’t held a puppy since he was a kid and chuckled a bit as it began licking Gavin’s face. Gavin didn’t mind it all that much though.   
“We found him sniffing around the crime scene. He seemed to have been abandoned. They were going to send him to the pound but Connor pouted and said that he was coming with him. But Hank said that he couldn’t because he already had four fucking dogs not including Sumo. Then Connor asked me to take him, and, well, I couldn’t resist. He now owes me several favors. But I didn’t think you’d mind.” Nines smirked, "A police dog for a police puppy.”

Gavin rolled his eyes at Nines' last comment but smiled, even though he loved cats he found German shepherds to be the most bearable. “Fuck you,”

“Do you like him?”

“He’s adorable.”

“Then he’s yours. I figure you can take him for walks and train him since you’re so bored all the time. I hear they’re very loyal.”

“I will. But he’s ours. If you think I’m taking care of him all by myself you’re dead wrong.”

“Alright, Gavin,” Nines rolled his eyes but smiled. He liked knowing that they had something that belonged to the two of them. Gavin set the puppy on the ground and pulled Nines closer to him, kissing him deeply. They hadn’t been kissing for long when they heard a strange noise from behind them.

“Oh,  _ fuck _ ,” Gavin said when they noticed their new puppy pissing all over the kitchen floor.

“That will be the first thing that we teach him not to do.”

“Agreed.”

They’d named him Apollo later that night. Gavin had been training him for the past month. Apollo still peed in the apartment sometimes, and sometimes even on Nines, which would make Gavin laugh quite a bit. 

Gavin walked into the kitchen to find Apollo begging for Gavin’s breakfast. Gavin snorted, “He’s always trying to eat my food.”

“That’s because you always give him your food,”

“Irrelevant,” Gavin said, taking his plate of eggs from Nines and sitting at the kitchen table, patting the head of Apollo as he passed. Nines was already dressed in his usual turtleneck and jeans and the leather jacket they had bought a month and a half ago to replace the old one. 

“About what I mentioned this morning in bed,” Gavin sat up straight. He’d managed to forget about this morning a for a little bit.

He fed a piece of his toast to Apollo and tried to act nonchalant. “What about it?”

“Gavin, you know I wouldn’t hurt you, right? I’ll take care of you. Seeing you in pain is the last thing I want.”

“I know. It’s just hard to imagine me being like that,” Christ, it was even hard for him to say. “It’s hard to see me as a bottom. I’ve never done that before, so I’m a little uncomfortable. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

“I understand, we don’t have to,” Nines said, but Gavin felt guilty all the same. He  _ did _ want to make Nines happy, and they’d been happy for the past two months. Gavin sometimes thought he loved Nines, and he definitely loved that smile that was beginning to appear more and more. That smile was nowhere in sight now. 

If he was being honest, he knew he loved Nines now. He knew it in his heart. He knew that he had started love him as soon as he woke up from that coma and he saw Nines sitting there beside him and holding his hand. He loved Nines as he once loved Noah, but with Nines, it ran deeper. He felt his love for Nines grow with each breath he breathed. He felt it grow with each secret smile they shared, with each kiss. Love was kind of an abnormal thing for Gavin. He’d pushed it away for the past twenty years, but he wasn’t scared of it now. He loved Nines, but he wasn’t quite sure how to make himself say the words he felt with every beat of his heart. 

Gavin was running his hands through his hair as he set his plate on the ground for Apollo to lick. Nines could easily tell that Gavin was worried about it still. And for once, Nines actually struggled with his words. “Gavin… It’s truly alright. I like doing what we’ve been doing. I have to go, but I’ll see you later tonight.”

Gavin nodded, tilting up his head as Nines kissed him goodbye. He could still tell Gavin was worried though, and he thought that perhaps he shouldn’t have brought it up again, perhaps he shouldn’t have brought it up at all. 

  
  


“Connor, how do you tell someone you love them?” 

“What do you mean?” The two were sitting doing paperwork for their most recent case while Hank went to go talk to Fowler. 

“I think I love Gavin. No, I’m sure I do. But I don’t know how to say it to him, and I want him to know. When I go to say it I freeze up. Like this morning, he was uncomfortable about something and I wanted to assure him that I would take care of him, and I wanted to say it, but I couldn’t get the words out. How did you tell Hank?”

“I don’t think you can force it because you think it’s the right or the most beneficial time to say it. You can’t really set the stage for it and just make it the right time. You have to feel when it’s the right time. With Hank, I just knew. I knew for a long time and I was struggling just like you. Then he beat me to it, and I was so pissed off but really happy he felt the same. When the moment is right, you’ll know.”

“I feel like it’s the right time every time I look at him and I feel how much I love him. But I’m afraid that it’ll come out wrong.”

“Try saying to me. Just as you would say it to Gavin.” Nines quirked his eyebrows at his brother, but Connor only gestured for him to do it. 

Nines closed his eyes and did his best to picture Gavin. He imagines the man leaning against his chest on the couch with Apollo on his lap. He imagined they were watching some old shows that Gavin used to watch when he was a kid. He imagined that Gavin was smiling at him, closing his eyes as he leaned in for a kiss that Nines was always happy to give. And he could feel that smile with every beat of his heart. “Gavin, I love you,”

He opened his eyes to see Connor smiling at him. “See? That was great. If you feel it’s right then it’s right.”

Nines nodded and wished nothing more to be going home so he could tell the human exactly what he’d just said to Connor. 

Gavin spent the whole day thinking, about Nines mostly. Would it really be such a bad thing to do it? He trusted Nines more than anyone, and for Nines, he would at least try it. He was just afraid that it was going to hurt a lot, he thought it might hurt as much as getting shot in the arm did. Nines did reassure Gavin that it wouldn’t and Gavin believed him. After all, Nines could feel pain and Gavin had been doing it with him all this time so he knew it wouldn’t hurt that bad, but for some reason, he couldn’t get past the initial fear. 

Still, he did his best distract himself from that pair of wonderful blue eyes and took Apollo for a longer walk than usual, he did his usual training for Apollo, who couldn’t quite grasp the concept of rolling over yet. Apollo surprisingly took up a lot of his time, and he was glad that he had gotten him when he had to be away from work anyways and he could give Apollo the attention he needed. 

By the time Nines came home from work that day, Gavin had decided. Nines was sitting on the couch later that night, Apollo sleeping on the other side of the couch. Gavin worked up his courage and moved to sit on the android’s lap and start kissing him. Nines responded immediately, wrapping his arms around Gavin and pulling him closer. “Nines, I want to,”

Nines quirked his eyebrow in surprise at the detective in front of him, who was already falling apart from Nines' teasing kisses and touches, cold fingers dipping into his sweatpants. “This morning you were so uncertain. You said you weren’t ready,”

“I wanted to think about it, and I did. Let’s do it. I trust you.”

Nines smirked and stood from the couch, Gavin’s legs still wrapped around him. Nines walked them easily into their bedroom, laying Gavin against the bed. Nines held Gavin’s arms to the bed, restraining him from touching him. Nines liked being in control like this. He liked it when Gavin unabashedly rutted against him, silently begging for some kind of friction. 

Gavin soon broke from Nines' grasp and dragged his hands through Nines' perfect hair, messing it up and tugging on it as the android peppered kisses down from Gavin’s jaw to his collarbone. Gavin sat up a bit as Nines tugged off his shirt, at the same time Gavin tugged off Nines' stupid turtleneck that he’d never admitted he actually liked. When their hungry lips met each other’s again, Nines found himself loving to tease the man in front of him. He pulled his lips away at the last second, relishing in Gavin’s frustrated moans as he tried to follow Nines' lips. Gavin’s breath hitched every time he pulled away slightly, and Nines couldn’t get enough of the small noises, he lived off of them. 

He began palming the detective through his loose sweatpants. He watched the man spill profanities from his mouth as Nines' fingers slipped underneath the waistband of his boxers and stroked Gavin’s length. He removed his hand and Gavin almost whined but didn’t complain as Nines tugged off his sweatpants and boxers in one go and tossed them to the floor. 

Nines trailed kisses down Gavin’s chest, grazed his lips against the scar on his stomach,  until he found where he wanted to be. Gavin didn’t have time to protest as Nines took him in his mouth. His mouth always felt incredible around him, the android’s skill with his mouth left him to be unable to think of any other thoughts besides  _ Nines _ . Nines lifted his mouth with an erotic pop and leaned up to capture Gavin’s lips again. When he felt a finger start to probe at his entrance, Gavin couldn’t help but feel a little panicked again. He did his best to shove it away and succeeded, losing himself in Nines' kisses, though he felt his heart pound in his chest in a constant reminder. 

Nines noticed though, a pulled away. “Are you sure that you want this, Gavin? I promise that I won’t be offended or upset if you decide to stop now. We can go back to normal.”

“No. No, it’s alright. I trust you.” Gavin pulled Nines' head back to him, wanting the android’s lips against his once again.

Gavin heard the snap of a bottle cap, and then soon after Nines slipped his first finger in, and Gavin barely felt it, but it was there. Strangely adding heat to the burning fire in his stomach. He already wanted more. Nines slid his finger in and out, searching for the one spot that Gavin always hits in Nines every single time. 

“ _ Fuck _ .” Gavin gasped, and Nines knew he found it. He slid his finger in and out and made sure to graze against that spot occasionally, focusing his lips on Gavin’s collarbone, relishing in the sounds that the detective made in his ear. Gavin felt like he was burning up, every brush of Nines' finger in that single spot sent him reeling each time. He did  _ not _ know it would feel quite like that, his hips bucked against Nines' fingers, chasing his movements. He muttered profanities under his breath, he wasn’t quite sure if he could breathe properly right now. He just knew he wanted more. No, he fucking  _ needed  _ more. “Nines. Nines,  _ fuck _ , please. I need more. I need more.” Nines only smirked against the flushed skin of his detective. 

Gavin already seemed to be so close, Nines' finger and lips doing too much to him. But as much he loved seeing Gavin’s face looking like that, all flushed red and sweaty, he couldn’t get the other image out of his mind. He couldn’t get the image of Gavin looking scared out of his mind, the way his programming instantly analyzed Gavin before he could stop it. His hands had trembled, accelerated heart rate. And that  _ look _ in his eyes. It reminded Nines of the night Gavin got shot. There was fear in Gavin’s eyes as they walked down that hallway, but his hands were steady. Gavin’s hands weren’t steady in that moment when Nines was about to start. And even though he tried to push the nagging thoughts away, to remind himself that his human was enjoying it  _ now _ , everytime he closed his eyes his memories screamed the reminder at him. 

Gavin wasn’t prepared for when Nines slipped his finger out and pulled away altogether.

“I should start dinner,” Nines said simply and got off of their bed. 

“Wait, wait, what’s happening right now?” Gavin wondered what had gone wrong. He propped himself up on his elbows, studying Nines' face. There wasn’t even a twitch of emotion and Nines wouldn’t meet his eyes. 

“Look, Gavin. You don’t seem really sure that you want to do this. I’m not going to try and convince in the middle of sex like that again. I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of you. So I really want you to think about it and make sure that you want this from me.”

“Christ, Nines, I do want it.”

“I want you to completely sure, and I want you to say it when you’re not horny like you are right now. I need you to be sure you’re ready. I wanted to continue, I really did. I just couldn’t past the way you looked when I was about to start. You looked really afraid of me.”

Though Gavin didn’t want to admit it, he knew Nines was right. There was a moment there where the doubt had made him freeze, so he understood what Nines meant. But that still didn’t change how Nines seemed way too far from him right now. “Shit, alright.” He groaned. 

“Now I was serious, I have to make dinner. And Apollo needs to be fed.”

Gavin collapsed on the bed as Nines left the room, closing the door behind him.

  
  


Gavin couldn’t stop thinking about it. Each morning he woke up thinking about it and couldn’t help himself from kissing Nines awake and trying to get what he wanted. Each time he touched his boyfriend he couldn’t help but crave that feeling again. Every time he kissed Nines he found himself wanting to drag him into the bedroom and make him repeat whatever the fuck he did that night that made him go crazy. But each time Nines found some excuse to get away from him. 

Nines was surely being one big fucking tease. The past three days Gavin was sure. He was absolutely fucking sure he wanted to do it. He loved Nines, and he wanted to do this  _ with him _ . It wasn’t just that he was horny and wanted sex. He did want sex, but he also wanted to do it with Nines because there was no one else that he trusted more than him. If there was going to be any pain he wasn’t scared of it. Now he just had to convince Nines. 

It was late at night, Nines' arms were wrapped around Gavin like they usually were, and Gavin could feel Nines behind him. He hadn’t tried doing this yet, but he was almost desperate for Nines to touch him like that again, he wanted to feel closer to him than he already was. He wiggled his ass deliberately against Nines' dick and smirked when he already felt something poke at his backside. He tried again, and Nines gripped his waist, halting his movements. “What are you doing?”

Gavin flipped in Nines' arms, facing his boyfriend. “Nines, I’m sick of waiting. I want you.” Gavin sees that the man in front of him was still hesitant, so Gavin did the only thing he could think of. He flipped them over so Nines lay on his back and Gavin was straddling him. He moved his hips so his ass ground Nines' dick, satisfied in the way Nines groaned with approval. 

“Gavin, are you sure? Are you sure you’re ready?” Although everything in Nines wanted to flip Gavin over and show him exactly what he could do, he couldn’t get past the spark of fear that was in Gavin’s eyes three nights ago.

“Yeah, I am. Maybe I wasn’t ready then but I am now. I want you. You asked me to think about it until I knew I was sure. Well, I can’t stop thinking about how you felt inside me, and I can't seem to replicate it at all. No matter how hard I try nothing feels like you do. I’m ready.”

“Fuck,” Nines said, already imagining Gavin trying to finger himself but not being satisfied because it wasn’t Nines. Gavin ground against him once more, and he lost whatever resolve he had been trying to maintain. He flipped them over, holding the human’s wrists against the mattress, making sure he couldn’t move his hands as Nines kissed and sucked at the side of Gavin’s neck and collarbone. He liked it when he was in control like this, he liked the frustrated moans he could pull from Gavin’s mouth when he held him restrained like this. 

They each had only boxers on, that thin material the only thing between them as Gavin rutted up against Nines' hardness, trying to feel some friction. Nines held both Gavin’s wrists in one hand and tugged off Gavin’s boxers with the other. Gavin managed to pull himself from Nines' grip and ran his hands over anywhere he could reach. He could barely contain his moans as Nines entered a finger into him, already grazing against that one spot that sent Gavin cursing and the fire inside him burn a little brighter. He couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t focus on anything else except Nines.

He felt a second finger, and then a third, each one stinging a bit but never in a way Gavin found unpleasurable. If anything that little burn of pain felt really good. Then Nines' fingers were gone, and Gavin whined, actually  _ whined _ at the loss of touch. He almost felt embarrassed. But then he felt Nines enter him, and he couldn’t think of anything else. He didn’t want to think of anything else. And fuck, if he thought Nines' fingers were good, then there were no words to describe how his cock felt inside him, filling him in a way he didn’t think was possible.

Nines at first started slow, each thrust tantalizing Gavin. Gavin already wanted more, he wanted to feel this for days after. Gavin ran his blunt nails over Nines' back, pulling him closer. “M-more,” He uttered with a moan.

“What was that?”

Gavin groaned, tangling his fingers in Nines' short strands of hair. “Fuck, please… harder. Nines, please, give me mor-” Gavin groaned as Nines picked up his pace, Gavin bit his lip to try to keep in the moans and whimpers that were threatening to spill. Nines hiked up one of Gavin’s leg for better access. Gavin gasped as Nines suddenly felt deeper inside him, each thrust felt like he was shattering Gavin apart. The burn of pain he felt in his hiked up leg didn’t bother him at all, it made him yearn for more. What was even better, was the way that Nines obviously was enjoying it too. It wasn’t often that Nines wasn’t composed, but right now he didn’t care as his nagging programming seemed to fade from his memory. He could only think of Gavin. With this angle, he could almost feel Gavin coming apart with each time he brushed against the spot that made Gavin close his eyes and let his mouth hang open in pleasure. Nines' breath shuddered with each thrust, the pleasure making his thrusts less mechanical and desperate for more pleasure as Gavin tightened around him and tugged on his hair. He was desperate to provoke more of those addictive sounds out of Gavin’s mouth. Gavin held Nines'  ravenous  gaze.

Gavin was already embarrassingly close, he could feel the spark inside him threatening to burst into flames with each thrust Nines made, with each kiss Nines pressed against that sensitive part of his neck. Then Nines wrapped his fingers around Gavin’s stiff member, moving his wrist in time with each of his thrusts, and Gavin didn’t even care what kind of sounds he was making. It was almost too much, but he couldn’t help himself from just wanting more and more and more. 

Nines soaked up the whimpers and moans Gavin let out. He memorized the way Gavin looked right now; hair tousled, lips red, face and body flushed red and lined with sweat. The broken moans Gavin now unabashedly let out. He memorized it all, committed it to memory. Gavin’s hips moved shamelessly in time to meet Nines' thrusts, and Nines could feel how close he was in the pit of his stomach. He felt it burn and crackle in time with his thrusts, with each desperate moan that fell from Gavin’s lips. 

Gavin pulled Nines close for a desperate kiss as he came undone, the pressure inside him finally breaking, he tightened around Nines. As Nines felt his boyfriend tighten around him and he quickly followed Gavin, the heat and tightness finally becoming too much for him. Nines pulled out and fell next to Gavin, pulling him into his arms. Gavin knew that they would definitely be doing that again. 

Nines thought back to what Connor said, about how he would just know when it felt right. Nines took Gavin’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers. “Hey, Gavin?”

“Yeah?” The human hummed, suddenly feeling very sleepy and finally satisfied. 

Nines let the artificial skin on his hand disappear, revealing himself to Gavin. He’s never done this while Gavin was awake before, he was always too afraid of what Gavin would think of it. He wasn’t sure if Gavin would freak out or not. But he knew that Gavin wouldn’t now. “I love you. I didn’t think I could really be alive until I met you. I mean, I knew I was alive, but I didn’t really start to feel it until I met you. You make me feel like I’m living, and I love you.”

Gavin felt himself blush even harder if that was possible. The sight of Nines' white silicone hand in his made his heart pound that much harder. He at first thought that seeing Nines' real skin would freak him out, but it was actually quite the opposite. When he saw his human hand intertwined with the robotic one, their fingers knotting together in what Gavin could only describe as a perfect fit, he only saw how much Nines trusted him. That only filled him with love. And somehow he found the words to finally say what he’d been feeling for a long time now. 

Gavin pulled their intertwined hands to his lips, kissing the back of Nines' robotic hand, feeling Nines' heart thunder and hearing his breath hitch in response. “Yeah, I love you too.” He tilted his head up, kissing his boyfriend in a sweet but passionate kiss. He could feel Nines' heart beating against his chest. He knew he loved Nines before he felt his boyfriend’s heart beating against his, but he knew it even more now as he realized his and Nines' hearts were beating to the same rhythm. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really love writing with Gavin and Conan. Unfortunately, there was a lot of stuff that I had planned that I liked but I couldn't find a place t put it or I didn't want a chapter to be too long. 
> 
> So, if you guys have any questions about side characters or even about Gavin and Conan, please ask it in the comments and I will answer it. Even if you want to know something that happens in the future I'll do my best.
> 
> I just have been in a lot of situations where I had questions that couldn't be answered and I didn't want to do that to you guys without leaving you an opportunity.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and thanks to NorthernSkyHills for proofreading this and letting me rant to her with ideas for this. 
> 
> I'll be posting regularly on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays until it's over.


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